A Storm of Swords
by A Dyslexic Writer
Summary: Emiya Shirou was kind, understand, helpful, and completely brutal to anyone who hurts his loved ones. A near perfect fit for the role of the Guardian of the Storm. But Reborn would have to be careful with this one. After all, even a broken sword is dangerous. (fem!Tsuna)
1. Chapter 1

The bag was placed over his head, the platform disappeared from underneath his feet, and the cord pulled tight around his neck. The cheers of the crowd who had come to see him die slowly faded away as Shirou's brain died.

The idea of fighting back didn't even occur to him. He had the strength required to get away, he could have at any point in the last few days leading up to his execution. However, Shirou couldn't gather up the will required to go on, not after the betrayal he had experienced.

He had always thought that Archer was an idiot, saying that his ideals betrayed him. Now at the end of the road, Shirou was questioning the Counter Guardian's memory. Perhaps the real betrayal was so painful that he forced himself to forget its origin. It was a lot easier to accept that the idea of justice abandoned him than his own love. Shirou wished he could forget how Sakura had used her magecraft on him while they were making love and his defenses were down.

He had trusted her, loved her with all his heart, and yet she…

Sakura had only ever loved him while he was hers. When he had left home in order to risk his life to save the lives of others, she had resented him for it. He hadn't been able to see it at the time, but looking back, it was obvious. He had laughed at one point in time, in his prison cell as he awaited his sentence. This was just how Hercules had died, wasn't it? Poisoned by his own wife out of some paranoid fear that he might one day cheat on her.

He had fallen in love with the wrong girl, and for it, he lost his life. How many heroes suffered the same fate?

The only conciliation he had was that he at least never made his deal with Alaya. Knowledge of the event that required such a sacrifice gave him the chance to prevent it from ever happening. So there would be no eternity to think about his shortcomings for him. He wondered how long it would take for the cycle of reincarnation to break down his soul entirely. Or maybe there was some kind of heaven that the Heroic Spirits didn't know about and he would be able to see his loved ones again, have another chance to show them he did care.

*Crackle*

The sounds of flames echoed within Shirou's mind, soon followed by the screams.

Ah, so it was to be hell for the foolish want-to-be hero. Makes sense. He was already starting to feel that old sensation of fire burning away his skin, the smoke filling his lungs and blood dripping down from a wound on his head. He was back in that very same hell he had been born from all those years ago.

"Hold on! Don't die now!" A familiar voice shouted at him and Shirou felt his body being lifted up out of the flames. His eyes pushed open and as his vision cleared, he saw a face leaning over him, a face he would never forget. "Thank goodness, you're alive."

Kiritsugu… was he in hell too?

Kiritsugu placed his large left hand on Shirou's body… a body that was much smaller than it should have been. Golden yellow flames seeped out of the man's hand from one of three rings that Shirou never remembered seeing before, filling Shirou's body with a gentle warmth as the pain went away. "You are going to be alright, kid."

Kid…?

With the pain gone, Shirou's eyes drifted close again and he fell into a light sleep.

* * *

Shirou sat up in bed at the hospital, not really sure what to do or think. It was as if the hands of time had been turned back for him. Though he noticed differences. The fire he had just came out of was a much smaller one, only killing a dozen people rather than five hundred.

The doctors had come around, asking him questions about what he could remember and concluded that he had amnesia and was delusional. Just like before, even with so few deaths, no one came forward to claim Shirou as their own. And again Kiritsugu came around and sat by his bedside.

Shirou stared blankly at the man who had been his father, not entirely sure that what he was experiencing was real, or his life flashing before his eyes.

Kiritsugu looked younger than he remembered. Less woeful. Granted even a less woeful Kiritsugu had a face that could win an award for best actor just by showing up, since the man still sported eyes so dark you could get lost in them.

Then there were the rings on his hands, while one of the three rings on his left hand seemed to be a normal wedding ring, the other two were mystic codes of some kind… though different from any mystic code that Shirou had seen before, which considering the size of his Unlimited Blade Works was really saying something.

If he had to take a guess as to their purpose, he'd call them amplifiers of some kind. The one that Kiritsugu had used to heal him had a canary yellow gem in the center and gave off residual energy that reminded Shirou of a sunbaked stone. The other ring was cyan blue and felt like slow moving water.

On his right hand were three more rings, one a dark crimson that smelled of destruction, another a deep indigo blue that had an allusive aura to it, and the last a ring that had a demon-like horn growing out of its face and possessed a demonic energy.

"Your name is Shirou, right?" Kiritsugu asked Shirou who nodded. "My name is Emiya Kiritsugu… From what I've heard, you don't seem to have a family… If you would like, you could be part of mine."

"…I'd like that." Shirou said to this man who was like his father.

Kiritsugu nodded, then he said a few things that threw Shirou for a loop. "I've already spoken to my wife, I'll fill out the adoption forms."

"Your wife!?" Shirou said, more than a little surprised.

"Yes. You'll be living with me, my wife, Irisviel, and our newborn daughter, Illyasviel. We will be your new family."

…Alright, so maybe this life will be more different that Shirou originally expected.

* * *

"Leysritt, Sella, breakfast is going to be ready in a few." Shirou said, knocking on the door of the two women's office, which was really just one of the vacant rooms that they claimed upstairs. While in his previous life, the two had been Illya's loyal maids and homunculus, they were now Irisviel's 'cousins' who were part of the family business and watched after Shirou and Illya when their parents when on extended business trips. The family business was apparently some kind of freelance investigators/law firm or something.

Considering the amount of tapping equipment they had, Shirou guessed that what they were doing wasn't strictly legal, but didn't really care either way. Since Kiritsugu, Irisviel, Leysritt and Sella all had those magic rings and had experience using them, the family was definitely not normal, even if you didn't include the things that Shirou did in his shed. They never shared with Shirou what the family business really was, and he didn't press. It wasn't like he was telling them everything.

"Oh, is it morning… already?" Sella mumbled while trying to hold down a yawn. "Sorry for making you do the housework by yourself again, Shirou-kun."

"Damn that lazy asshole… slacks off on his job and then dumps all the paperwork on us at the last minute." Leysritt said through gritted teeth as she lifted up her hands to try to push her eyes back into their sockets. "And the person we are writing it for is 'that guy', he would chew our asses if we gave him anything short of a full goddamn report."

"If he only chews our asses, I'd count it as a blessing. You know how much of a sadist that guy is." Sella said before starting to break down into tears.

Shirou didn't know who 'that guy' was but considering Leysritt's usual mode of operation when someone asks for a full written report was to tell them to fuck themselves and go and watch TV while Sella does it, seeing her working an all-nighter meant that she was legitimately terrified of the guy. And when your normal clientele are members of the Yakuza, and you live with Emiya Kiritsugu, it took a lot to scare you.

As the two 'sisters' cried into each other's shoulders, Shirou gingerly closed the door and when back down stairs.

* * *

"Can you two walk yourselves to school?" Sella asked as she washed the dishes after breakfast. "I'd take you myself but…"

"Don't worry Sella, we know that you and Leysritt are busy." Illya said, as she pulled on her shoes.

"Thank you for being so understanding, you're such a good girl." Sella said as she reached down and patted the nine-year-old girl's head.

"Good girl huh? She isn't doing it because she cares about us, she just wants some alone time with her precious onii-chan." Leysritt teased.

"Wha!? That… that's not it at all!" Illya denied, completely flustered by the accusation. She glanced at Shirou, who was standing there, waiting for her to be ready, before closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Don't say things that people will misunderstand!" She then grabbed Shirou's hand and started for the door. "We're going!"

"Have a nice day!" Leysritt called after them in a singsong voice as the door closed behind them.

"Mgh… Why is it that she's always got to be saying things like that?" Illya mumbled under her breath.

"It's just how she shows how much she cares about you. You know that she thinks of you as a little sister, don't you?" Shirou said with a good-natured smile. "Family just teases each other from time to time. It's not like you're her only victim. Remember that frilly pink apron she gave me last Christmas? The one you and mom always insist I wear." Illya shut her mouth as an embarrassed and childish smile spread across her face, no matter how hard she tried to keep her face straight. She probably wanted to deny his accusations but didn't trust herself to open her mouth. Shirou let the pseudo silence pass for a few moments longer before delivering the bullet. "By the way, how long are you planning on holding onto my hand?"

"Eep!" Illya let out a squeak as she let go of Shirou's hand staggered back a bit before blubbing unintelligibly, turning around and starting down the street by herself.

Shirou chuckled a bit to himself. "This is why people keep teasing you. Your reactions are just too funny." Shirou was about to follow after her when he passed the Sawada residence, the house just next door to their own, and suddenly felt like he was being watched.

He glanced around, throwing his senses into overdrive. He enhanced his sight and hearing to their utmost, and reached out with his magecraft, checking for anything that would be classified as a 'weapon' anywhere nearby and searched for any magical signatures. Though less effective than line of sight, if the wielder of the weapon had intentions directed towards Shirou, he'd be able to detect weapon's exact positioning and type through the energy carried in those intentions.

Sight and sound gave him nothing, but his other senses picked up things that he had never noticed before. Shirou was struggling in trying to grasp where or what the weapon actually was, which in itself was odd, but he could identify that it existed and that it was definitely mystic in origin. While its own was watching them, there was no hostile intent. Curiosity?

There was also a distinct energy in the air, that of the yellow flames, a vibrant energy that caused the air to come alive. They were much more pure than they were with his father, and they were coming from the Sawada residence. Shirou couldn't think of a reason why. The only people who lived there were Nana, a young single mother, and her daughter Natsumi. The two were nice and completely ordinary people. Why would anyone unusual go there?

"Onii-chan, why are you just standing there!?" Illya called back to Shirou from just before the crosswalk at the end of the street.

"Sorry, just thought I saw something!" Shirou called back before starting to walk briskly after her. Nothing he could do about it now. He'd check in with Natsumi at school and make sure she was alright.

He hoped nothing would happen before then.

* * *

Reborn watched the two children walking to school with mild curiosity as Leon shapeshifted out of his ninja-camouflage sheet form. "So, those are Kiri and Iris's kids, huh." He said, slowly petting the chameleon as it rested on his left arm. "Thought for a second there that the boy noticed me. Curious."

Kiritsugu and Irisviel had said that they weren't going to tell their kids about the darker side of the world, and they were going to hide the existence of the Dying Will Flames until little Illya awakened to their existence on her own. So how was it that the boy had noticed him? Perhaps it was just a coincidence that he looked up while he passed and something else caught his attention, but the Sun Arcobaleno didn't believe in those kinds of coincidences.

"I'll have to keep a close eye on that one, if he's anything like his father, perhaps he would make a good Guardian." Reborn hummed to himself before just shrugging his shoulders. "Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. Come on Leon, let's introduce ourselves to this No-Good Natsumi girl."

* * *

"Have a good day at school." Shirou said as he ruffled his little sister's hair, silently chuckling to himself at the annoyed expression on her face as he did so.

"I'm off." Illya said, giving Shirou a quick hug before ducking away and running towards the elementary school gates. Shirou smiled as he watched her go, but as she entered the school building and disappeared from sight, the smile slowly disappeared.

Just like her mother, Illya put off a soothing energy that was connected to the white flames. While not as strong as their mother's, Illya's passive energy seemed to counteract Shirou's mental trauma from his previous life. They felt like someone was putting an ice pack on his soul. It was like a strong antidepressant, and both Shirou and Kiritsugu were practically dependent on that soothing energy in order to function properly, to the point where if anything were to happen to the two girls, the Emiya men would likely go berserk.

Shirou had a lot of chances to study the rings and their flames over the last nine years, though he hadn't seen them in action since that first night in the fire.

The flames were made from the excess life force energy produced by souls, similar to Shirou's own Od. The flames also had different 'elements' for lack of a better term, which was based on the wavelength of the energy contained by the flame. Each person naturally produced different wavelengths and could use different flames. Some people could use multiple types, while others could only access one.

Kiritsugu could call on the red, light blue, dark blue, and yellow flames, while Sella and Leysritt could only use green and purple flames respectively.

Irisviel's flames were different though, as the orange flame and the white flame possessed the exact same wavelength, with the difference between the two being structure. The white flame was more rigid than the orange, which had a more fluid property to it, that could turn chaotic as the intensity of the flame increased. The best comparison between them would be ice and steam. Both of these flame types had the same soothing properties to them.

Illya had inherited her mother's white flames and the red flames from her father, not that she knew that. Illya had been kept completely oblivious to the existence of the flames, though hers were growing stronger by the day. Even without a ring to amplify their power, Shirou could still feel their presence.

The elementary school was a good distance away from Shirou's middle school, but he didn't mind the extra walk. He still had a good thirty minutes before school started, and if he was late, Hibari would turn a blind eye. While he and Hibari weren't what you would call friends, the Disciplinary Committee Leader recognized that if you were going to wear black jackets in the middle of summer, then you shouldn't go beating up the guy who fixes the air-conditions. He learned that lesson the hard way after he broke the bones of the last janitor to dare enter 'his' room while he was sleeping. Now none of the other faculty members were willing to go there. If requested, they usually just quit and left town for a few days. Shirou was the only one who would venture into the Disciplinary Committee's territory to fix their equipment when it broke, either from wear or as collateral damage. He had also done some more personal jobs for many of its members, who were now all in his debt.

Hibari had taken to calling Shirou 'Chidori' after the birds that brave the alligator's jaws in order to clean their teeth. So long as Shirou continued to fix their things and represents the school in archery tournaments, Hibari didn't care if he went to classes at all. Wasn't like Hibari went to class either. He only went when he felt like it, and not always to the same classroom.

Shirou had a sneaking suspicion that Hibari wasn't even actually enrolled in any class. Not that he cared about the Yakuza-like Disciplinary Committee Leader, or his brutal methods. He might have cared if it was someone he knew personally getting beaten up, but Shirou didn't really have any friends at school. The closest thing he did have to friends were the Disciplinary Committee members who he did favors for, and Sasagawa Ryohei, who he occasionally saw on morning jogs. Even they were more like enthusiastic acquaintances than friends.

In the end, so long as no one's life was in danger, Shirou didn't care if a couple of bullies and street gangs got their shit kicked in for whatever it was that they did to get on the Disciplinary Committee's bad side. Shirou hadn't cared about the operations of the real Yakuza in the past, so he wasn't too concerned about the middle school Yakuza now. Hell, the Yakuza had been some of his best contacts in his previous life. More morally upstanding than most magus.

Not that he was going to participate in that anymore. The closest this Shirou ever got to the underworld was repairing the broken bikes of the local Yakuza. As innocent a thing as mowing their lawns, though it paid better. The Wrought Iron Magus had put his hitman days behind him… or so he thought.

"Goodmorning, Emiya-senpai." Kusakabe Tetsuya said with a serious nod as he saw Shirou walking towards the gate.

"Goodmorning, Kusakabe-san. Did you need me for something?" Shirou replied, stopping to chat with the Disciplinary Committee's Second in Command.

Even though he was only a first year in middle school, Kusakabe had a face that could have belonged to a man in his late twenties, with a strong square jaw and sharp eyes. His discipline nature and his good manners had earned him a place as Hibari's yes-man, a job that he filled with great gusto. He acted as Hibari's mouthpiece, so that Hibari himself didn't have to interact with people.

"Yes. We've got a report here about the school's energy consumption over the last week and we have a lot of unexplained spikes. No problems yet, but from what I have been told, we nearly blew one of the circuits. Hibari-sama wishes for you to take a look at things and make sure that whatever is going on isn't a fire hazard, and if you could fix whatever is causing the trouble in the first place, it would be much appreciated." Kusakabe said, handing over the files.

"Unexplained power consumption?" Shirou mumbled as he looked the thing over. "It's not just on one circuit either. I can't think of any single thing that would cause something like this. Shouldn't a professional be called in?"

Kusakabe looked around before leaning in to talk with Shirou more quietly. "One was, however the estimates given from looking over the school's entire power grid were too high for the school's budget. If the problem isn't fixed, they are thinking of closing down the school until a solution could be found. ...Hibari-sama is not happy about this and is doing everything he can to keep the school open. So he would be more than willing to overlook you skipping your classes for the next week to find a solution. We will even persuade teachers to give you full marks for anything missed."

"A week? Hibari-san asks for a miracle and gives me a week to do it?" Shirou said with a sigh. "Honestly, the school should be shut down for safety's sake."

"You know Hibari-sama won't allow that. And if you want us to stop asking you for miracles, you should probably stop delivering them." Kusakabe said with a small smile.

Shirou could only sigh in response. "I'll take a look and see if it's even doable."

"Thank you, Emiya-senpai." Kusakabe said, giving Shirou another bow.

"Just don't blame me if you start smelling something burn…" Shirou started, but then stopped as he realized that he did smell something burning. An intense, chaotic, unpleasant smell. It was the orange verent of the flames, only it was so unstable as to be almost unrecognizable. He also could sense the yellow flames from earlier that morning, barely perceptible underneath the more active mystical signature.

A highly active mystic signature… in a school full of children.

"Emiya-senpai!? Where are you going!?" Kusakabe shouted as Shirou bolted in the direction of the gymnasium.

Shirou ignored him and kept running towards the gym, his worry growing as he heard the sounds of panic coming from within… but along with the panic was laughter. Spiteful laughter of cruel children. Bursting through the door, Shirou saw something that made him stop in his tracks, though not for the reason he had expected.

In the middle of a massive ring of children was his neighbor, Sawada Natsumi, stripped down to nothing but her underwear and brutally attacking one of the boys from the Kendo team as a large crowd watched some cheering, others gasping in horror, still others just too shocked to make a sound. But what none of the normal people could see, the thing that shocked Shirou the most, was the mystical energy that was surrounding Natsumi, making the girl's thin body practically glow.

Something had happened to the girl to make her go completely berserk. Her eyes were wide and unblinking, she was panting rapidly through clenched teeth, and a bright orange flame was pulsating out of control on her forehead.

Shirou was about to react. To go and save the boy and help to get Natsumi under control before she could hurt anyone. But before he could move, his eyes started to take in more details.

Scraps and welts along the girl's small body. Spots that would soon become hafty bruises if unattended. A bleeding noses. And a discarded weapon from the boy, which told Shirou a story of a one sided beating.

That bastard had dragged the girl in here and forced her to fight, without giving her proper protective equipment for her face and arms. Though it didn't explain why. Or why Natsumi was now nearly naked. Or where she had suddenly gained this power from.

As Shirou tried to decide how to act, the flame on Natsumi's head started to die down and she began to regain control over her breathing. She looked down at the messed up face of the boy she had been beating and to the handful of hair that she had ripped out of his scalp. The noise of the crowd brought her head up and she looked at everyone as they pointed at her and her exposed body. Some of them even holding cameras and phones out.

Then, she girl burst into tears and started running as best she could, stumbling as she went. "Natsumi, wait!" Shirou shouted, trying to get to her, but the crowd was too thick and stopped him, though they let Natsumi through into the main building.

They were laughing and gossiping. Calling the girl a crazy freak, looking at their recording of what had just happened. They had been there throughout the entire incident, and had done nothing.

...They disgusted him.

Shirou's hand snapped out, ripping the camera out of the hand of the boy standing next to him. "Hey, give that back!?" The kid shouted, trying to reach for it.

Shirou gave him a glare that sent him stumbling back. "I'll be taking this. Got a problem with that?"

"N...No."

"Good." Shirou started to move towards the door that Natsumi just went through.

As he went, he traced thin iron needles and shot them through any device he saw, breaking them, before dissolving the weapons before anyone could get a good look at them. Using his magecraft in such a manner was dangerous, as information could be leaked, but it was far safer than if people had a recorded incident. The idea of some of these bastards putting up pictures of the girl in such a state on the internet was also completely intolerable.

Shirou moved through the halls, following the quickly dying scent of that fire that had been coming out of Natsumi just moments before. Now it was barely even detectable, and fading by the moment.

People he passed were still making noise, letting him know he was on the right track. He still destroyed any device he saw, for good measure.

Finally, the trail came to an end outside of a locked janitor's closet. She must have seen it open and rushed inside to escape. Some people were looking, but a quick glare from Shirou convinced them all to move on.

He brought out the key Hibari had given him to the janitor's closet and quickly entered, closing the door behind him.

Natsumi hadn't even noticed when Shirou entered. The small brown-haired girl was sobbing into her hands. Shirou didn't say anything. He just took off his blazer and draped it over her shoulders. The action caused Natsumi to jump and turn around.

"Sh...Shirou-senpai! What are you doing here!?" She said, seeming surprised to see him there. Though after her jump she immediately grabbed onto the blazer and tried to cover as much of herself as she could with it.

"I have a key to all the equipment rooms on campus." Shirou said as he opened up his back, putting the confiscated camera away while pulling out medkit, complete with bandages and ointments. "I know this is embarrassing, but I'm going to have to take care of your bruises. It might feel bad now, but it will feel a lot worse later if they start to swell."

Natsumi opened her mouth, but then just closed it and nodded her head weakly. "Do you always carrying around a medkit?"

"My dad taught all of us battlefield medicine during a camping trip. Said it might come in handy one day." Shirou said as he slipped on a canary yellow ring that he had made himself in secret. He hoped that she wouldn't notice the unusual warmth of the ointment and bandages he was applying. The yellow flames would greatly increase the recovery speed of her injuries.

"Yeah. I remember that." Natsumi mumbled awkwardly as she kept herself facing away from Shirou. Being so close in age and living next door to one and other, they had seen a lot of each other over the years.

When her father had up and disappeared, presumed to be dead, Kiritsugu and Irisviel had made a habit of inviting Nana and Natsumi to celebrations and camping trips, though Shirou didn't see much of her outside of that. They hadn't gone to the same elementary schools, and they were only into Natsumi's three month at middle school. And with them being in different years, and Shirou often being more of a mechanic than a student, they had only seen each other in passing.

She was clumsy and had a few memory and anxiety problems, but she was a good, normal girl. Nothing had ever suggested that she had anything to do with the other side. Even now, sitting right next to her with his hands on her skin, Shirou couldn't sense any of the flames from before.

"Natsumi, what happened?" Shirou asked. The girl didn't say anything at first. She just sniffled and rubbed at her eyes. "You don't need to tell me anything if you don't want to. But know that if you don't tell me, I will go and find my answers from someone else. I'm not going to just let this drop."

"...You wouldn't won't believe me even if I told you."

"I would."

"Really!? You would believe me if I told you that a baby showed up at my house this morning claiming to be my home tutor and that he was part of the mafia and then shot me in the head!?" Natsumi snapped in her frustration.

"...If you say that is what happened, then believe you." Shirou said, earning a look of surprise from the girl.

"You… believe me? Even though it sounds so crazy?"

"Yes. I believe you." Shirou confirmed. "So, an unnatural baby shot you with something. What happened after that?"

"...I'm not entirely sure. One moment I was being shot in the face with some kind of bright yellow light. After that, I found myself at school in nothing but my… underwear, begging Kyoko too…" Natsumi stopped before covering her face with her hands again. "Oh god. I made such a fool of myself in front of her. Now she's never want to be my friend."

...What exactly was she begging this 'Kyoko' girl to do? Granted, it wasn't Shirou's place to question Natsumi's sexual preferences, and he wouldn't dream of shaming her, but…

"When I saw that flash of light, the only thing I could think was how I would die without ever having had a classmate for a friend. I just wanted to have someone I could call a friend. Just one. I was so focused on that thought that my body just moved on its own." Natsumi said, tears running down her cheeks.

"You've been having problems making friends at school?" Shirou asked, a little surprised.

"Mm. No one wants to be friends with... 'No-Good Natsumi'." Natsumi said through a sob, trying to wipe the tears from her head against.

"What the? Is that what those assholes have been calling you?"

"Ev… Everyone calls me that. My classmates, my teachers, even… sometimes even mama. It's because I'm no good at anything. I can never do anything right." The poor girl said mersibly.

"I… I had no idea." Shirou said, his mind racing as his hands went through the motions of treating the girl's injures. How long had this been going on? How long had people been treating her like this? Shirou should have noticed before.

A memory of a young girl with dark blue hair, about the same age as Natsumi was now, standing on the doorstep in the rain, came back to Shirou's mind. The memory brought with it all the shame that it always brought. A cry for help, left unanswered because of Shirou's own blindness.

His frustration caused him to pull a little too tightly on one of the bandages.

"Ouch!"

"Oh, sorry." Shirou said as he gently tied the last of the bandages in place. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have done something."

"...I didn't want you to know." Her response was barely more than a whisper, though it became louder. "Your family was always nice to me. I didn't want you to think that I was no good too."

Shirou closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, he raised a hand up, and gave Natsumi a flick to her forehead.

"Eep!" She jumped in surprise and covered her forehead with her hands.

"You've always been one to worry over silly things." Shirou said giving her a small smile and shake of the head.

"Shirou-senpai." Natsumi said, flushing with embarrassment.

"Don't worry. I'll fix everything." Shirou promised. And he would. He didn't care how many favors he had to call in and how many arms he would have to twist, or possibly break, this would not continue. Natsumi might not have been in control of her actions, but those other students had been.

There was also the matter of the strange baby that the girl mentioned before.

"What happened after that?" Shirou asked.

"Kensuke-senpai thought it would be funny to give me a 'trial' about what happened. He and the rest of the Kendo team dragged me to the gym, putting me in a uniform, without any body or head protection… then he beat me as everyone watched." Natsumi said with a bit of detachment. "I just wanted him to stop hitting me. I didn't want to hurt him. I just… couldn't control myself. Now, everyone is going to think I'm some kind of violent, crazy person, on top of being useless."

...Kensuke. The name sounded familiar. Wasn't he in one of Shirou's classes? He didn't really have a face to go with the name.

Regardless, Shirou would be paying him and the rest of the Kendo team a visit so that they could have a nice, friendly talk about their behavior.

"Maybe I should… should ask mama about changing schools." Natsumi said weakly. "After today, I don't think I will ever be able to show my face around here again."

Shirou tried to think of something to say. Something to make her feel better, but she might have been right. It might be better for her to simply change schools and try to make a fresh start.

"Natsumi-chan? Natsumi-chan, are you in there?" A young girl's voice came from outside of the janitor's closet.

"K...Kyoko-chan!?" Natsumi said in surprise before covering her own mouth. Though it was too late. The girl outside knew she was in there.

"Natsumi-chan, I'm so sorry. I never realized that it was so bad, and I never did anything to help." Kyoko said. "I know it might be too late, but… if you still want to be friends, I would like to have another chance."

"Kyoko-chan." Natsumi said softly, her eyes widening.

Shirou glanced at the door and then to Natsumi. "Want me to let her in?"

"Ah… yes." Natsumi said, pulling Shirou's blazer tighter around her.

Shirou opened the door enough for the girl outside to squeeze in, before shutting the door again.

It surprised to Shirou when he actually did recognize the girl as being Ryohei's little sister. The hyperactive boxer was someone that was hard to overlook, and his appearance made him even more attention grabbing to Shirou. White hair, silver eyes, and darker skin, even though the rest of his family members all had lighter skin and chestnut brown hair. Even without checking, Shirou already knew that the boy was one of the rare cases in which a child is magically active from birth, as the appearance was a sign of having dealt with more mana than one's body could handle.

"You're hurt." Kyoko said with a gasp as she saw Natsumi.

"Ah, no. I'm alright. Shirou-senpai already took care of me." Natsumi said, nervously averting her eyes. Though she jumped when Kyoko went and gave her a hug.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you." Kyoko said, while Natsumi was too stunned to move. After breaking the hug, Kyoko lifted up a bag and presented it to Natsumi. "Oh, I was told to give you this."

"Huh, this is… my spare uniform!?" Natsumi shouted as she pulled out the clothes, noting her name on the tag. "How? Where did you get these?"

"Well, this strange baby gave me them. He also told me that I'd be able to find you here." Kyoko said, causing Natsumi to freeze up. "He was really cute, what with his little suit and hat."

"Natsumi." Shirou said, getting the girl's attention. "It might be best if you take the day off. Do you want me to call your mother?"

"Ah… well…" Natsumi mumbled, but didn't say anything coherent.

"You don't want your mother to know?" Shirou asked, to which the girl shook her head. "...Alright. I'll call Sella instead and you can hang around our house until school is out. Now, I'll get out of your hair so you can get dressed."

"Thank you." Natsumi said with an embarrassed nod.

Ducking out into the hallway, all kindness drained out of Shirou's face as he started to head towards the Disciplinary Committee's room. He had some favors to call in, some addresses to get, and some teachers to remove.

He had told Natsumi that he would take care of everything, and he planned on it.

* * *

Reborn watched Natsumi as the girl moved about her room, trying to get ready for bed.

He wanted to say that all's well that ends well. Natsumi ended up getting that friend at school that she wanted so bad as to refuse to die before she got it… but he couldn't convince himself that it had been anything other than a disaster.

Everything that had happened that day was not supposed to have happened. It was outside of even the master of chaos's wildest expectations and went against everything he had been told about the girl.

According to all of the data he had been given, Natsumi was an entirely unremarkable girl. If anything, she was only remarkable in just how weak, stupid and pathetic she was. She was supposed to have even less aptitude for the Dying Will Flames than even the average random Joe. So even with the Dying Will Bullet to draw out her flames, the reaction should have been small.

So why was it that her flames had been so strong? Even Xanxus's flames hadn't been so strong at such a young age, and he had gained the ability to freely call on them. The flames had been so intense as to destroy her clothes. It was only a miracle that she had kept even a scrap of decency.

And it hadn't happened just once, but twice.

How in the world was that possible? Reborn himself couldn't sense anything from the girl. She should have been lacking all talent. And what was he going to do now?

He was hired to try to make a passable mafia boss out of the girl by causing problems in her life and then using those problems and the Dying Will Bullets to draw out her flames. After doing this for a year or so of shooting her almost every single day, she would become conditioned to call on the flames all on her own whenever the need arose. Because of this, the first thing that Reborn did when he arrived was give the girl a taste of the Dying Will Bullets. It was also to give him a good look into who the girl was, as you could tell a lot about a person by the things they would regret if they had died. He hadn't expected it to strip her, or that the effect would have lasted long enough for her to run across the entire town and into her school.

If his student was a boy, Reborn might have just shrugged his shoulders and just let the kid get stripped in public day after day, but with Natsumi being a twelve-year-old girl, Reborn couldn't keep doing that. Not with how emotionally damaged she was already. After reading Sella and Leysritt's report, Reborn started to get an understanding of just how extreme the bullying was, and just how low Natsumi's self-esteem.

If he wanted to keep using his Dying Will Bullets without stripping her, he would need to get flame resistant clothing for her. But such things were expensive. Even with calling in favors, it would cost him a good three million USD just to get one full set for her. Such things were had to come by, and those Familia's who knew how to make them guarded that knowledge with their lives. Sure, he had the money, but he doubted he would get reimbursed for such a massive expense. He could use Leon's threads, but that could take weeks for him to make, and he wouldn't be capable of producing bullets for a while after doing so. It would be a serious time investment and set back her training by as much as another month.

There was nothing else he could do. The training would have to be set back. ...Only he couldn't do that, because Hayato was already on his way and the boy wasn't likely to be easy to deal with. Given his chauvinistic nature, he might even be a lost cause. But the boy was intelligent, and had the natural advantage of possessing multiple flame types, meaning that he could be slotted in to become any Guardian they had the need for, save for Mist.

He was also an emotionally unstable mess, to the point were even a weak Sky might be able to get him hooked. And if that Sky wasn't someone who would treat him kindly, his future was going to be hell. He was already being treated like crap wherever he went, and Shamal was getting worried. He needed Natsumi perhaps more than she needed him.

No, Reborn couldn't have Natsumi attempting to gain the boy's support without her Flames. It would be futile. Worse, it could easily get her killed. She would need Hayato as her guardian as soon as possible in order to start nurturing her own flames.

Speaking of guardians, Reborn had been impressed by the Emiya boy. His instincts were sharp. He was quick to action. He never doubted Natsumi for a moment. He had been kind, strong and forceful during her time of need. Qualities of a good Sun Guardian.

However, it was his actions after leaving her that were the most surprising. Actions that made him wonder if he was really Kiritsugu's biological son, rather than just adopted.

Using the Disciplinary Committee in order to gain access to the Kendo Club's registry, getting their contact information, school schedules and addresses. Hunting each of them down and placing the fear of god into them with a tiger striped practice sword. Investigating Natsumi's teachers and black mailing the school board into releasing any of them that he concluded were involved in maliciously bullying her, on top of the immediate expulsion of the entire Kendo team.

He had been calm, kind and supportive in front of Natsumi, but as soon as he was out of sight, he had turned into a raging storm to destroy her enemies. The boy would make an exceptional Storm Guardian, especially with his unparalleled skill with the bow, the weapon of choice for the first generation Storm Guardian. Though his family wasn't happy when Reborn showed his interest. They seemed to be wanting to keep young Shirou in the dark about the darker side of things.

Pity. The boy had talent for it.


	2. Chapter 2

"Reborn, why would you do this!?" Natsumi cried as she ran for all she was worth out the door of her house. Reborn, that little monster, had disabled her alarm clock, causing her to oversleep. He then timed her as she got dressed and ate, and made fun of her performance in doing such simple activities.

She cursed her misfortune of ever being the object of attention of that demon wearing a baby's skin as she rushed down the street. But before she had gotten more than a block, a car drove up next to her.

"Hey Natsumi, want a lift?" Leysritt asked. She was sitting in the passenger's seat of the Emiya Family's car, as her sister was the one driving.

"Yes please." Natsumi said. Leysritt gave her a knowing smile as she reached back and popped open the back door, inviting the girl in. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, we were going to be heading towards the school anyways." Sella said with a shrug as she started to drive again. "So how are you feeling? Ready for another day of school?"

"Ah… well…" Natsumi mumbled a little awkwardly.

"Wow, way to make small talk sis. And you call me the insensitive one." Leysritt snorted. "You're a brave girl than I gave you credit for, Usagi-chan. I don't know many people who would return to school after what happened yesterday. Good on you."

Leysritt gave her a wink.

Usagi was the nickname that Leysritt gave her when she was younger, because of how she would squeal like a startled rabbit. While it was teasing, it was a lot more good natured than what Natsumi normally put up with. Plus, Leysritt teased everyone.

Like with the rest of the Emiya residence, Natsumi had known Leysritt and Sella for most of her life. They had acted like of like older sisters to her, or perhaps aunts. Though in all honesty, she didn't know that much about them, like their ages.

The two both looked like they were eighteen or nineteen years old, with beautiful snowy white hair, pale skin and well developed figures, which had often left Natsumi feeling a little envious, since she had always been on the small side for her age, and she had never been able to tame her messy brown hair, no matter what she tried. But the two of them had always looked like that.

Leysritt, Sella and even Irisviel hadn't seemed to age a day in the last nine years. While Natsumi's own mother could be said to be aging slowly, those three didn't age at all. Of the adults, only Kiritsugu ever seemed to grow older.

"Thank you, but I don't feel very courageous." Natsumi said weakly. Really, she had been in such a rush that morning, that the events from the day before had slipped her mind. Now that they were coming back, she felt her stomach sinking and had to hold back a shameful whimper.

"You'll do fine, and if you need any help or advice, you can always come to us. We're always willing to help." Sella said said with a smile as she looked at Natsumi in the rearview mirror.

"Thank you, Sella-san." Natsumi said.

"You know, we haven't had many chances to just talk to you Natsumi. So tell us, any cute boys in your class?" Leysritt asked with a childish grin.

"Leysritt-san…" Natsumi mumbled in embarrassment.

"I'm not hearing a no~. So, anyone caught your eye? You know you can tell us." Leysritt continued to tease.

"I don't have a crush on any boys!" Natsumi shouted, as the two sisters giggled a bit.

Honestly, there were a few cute boys in her school, but Natsumi couldn't see herself falling in love, or even getting a crush on any of them. Her complicated relationship with her father made her wary of boys who smiled all the time. Even before his unexplained death, he had always been a drunk and a liar. That is, if he was even around or told them anything. He would disappear for months on end without a word. Even if he did tell them where he was going, it would be a lie.

A stupid lie to, like that he was hired by a construction company on the south pole.

Natsumi might not have been smart, she would admit that, but she couldn't understand how anyone believe him. Yet her mother kept believing in him and singing his praise.

Natsumi wouldn't be surprised if the man wasn't actually dead. It wasn't like mama had ever explained exactly 'how' he had died. He had probably just abandoned her and mama, and didn't care enough to tell them the truth. That he didn't love them at all.

She hated him. She hated that man so much. She hated that she was even related to him.

Growing up, she had often tried to tell herself that Kiritsugu was her real father. While he was kind of scary, at least he was undeniably loyal and honest to his wife. At least he cared for his children. At least when he was out of town, he called home every day. At least when he smiled, he really meant it.

"Really, no one at all? I thought you used to have a little crush on Shirou." Leysritt said, as if disappointed.

"Would you please stop." Natsumi said with a tired sigh.

She had admired Shirou for a long time. Even though he was only a year older than her, he was a lot more mature than almost everyone she had ever met, and he was a lot smarter to. When he was eight years old, he started up a small business repairing broken machinery out of the family's shed. He'd always been nice and passent with Natsumi and Illya. He was also athletically gifted and could probably have competed at the national level in any sports. On top of that, he was handsome.

He was incredible, and lots of the other girls at school had crushes on him. Even Illya, he non-blood related little sister, had had a crush on him since they were small. He could have any girl he wanted, so it was hard to even imagine he would ever settle for a girl as below average as Natsumi was. So Natsumi settled for admiring him as an older brother figure.

Or that was what she told herself.

"Um, Sella, why are you parking?" Natsumi asked as her neighbor pulled into a parking space at the school, rather than just dropping Natsumi off.

"Well, it was supposed to be a surprise, but I guess we can tell you." Sella said with a smile. "We are going to be your new teachers."

"...Huh?"

* * *

"Von Einzbern-sensei,Why was Yamada-sensei fired?" The class rep asked, shocked when Leysritt came in, claiming to be their new homeroom and math teacher.

"I don't know. But considering how fast the school gave him the boot, he was probably a pedophile or something." Leysritt said as she quickly glanced up and down from her attendance sheet, making sure that the students were all there. "Also, don't call me Von Einzbern-sensei, it sounds ridiculous, and it would be confusing, since my sister is also going to be one of your new teachers. Just call me sensei, or Leysritt-sensei."

This brought another round of whispers from the annoying brats.

Honestly, Leysritt hadn't wanted to become a middle school teacher. She would have much preferred to be back home watching TV. But, one does not simply say no to Reborn. So after a good chunk of Natsumi's teacher's were all fired, Sella and Leysritt both became replacements. He said it was to be their punishment for their faulty information.

It was so unfair! It was the stupid sensors that they got from the CEDEF that were to blame, not them! Not to mention that Reborn acted before even reading their reports!

Their job was simple. Reborn had started the process of producing flameproof threads using Leon, meaning he couldn't make any more Dying Will Bullets until the process was over. So he was limited to just three shots, which would be saved for when they were needed the most. And in the situations where Reborn would need to use those bullets, Sella and Leysritt would run interference and use Mist devices to stop anyone from noticing or walk in on Natsumi in her birthday suit.

They asked Reborn why he didn't just send a request for Dying Will Pills, for while Leon was out of commission, but he refused. It seems like he didn't want anyone outside to know that the flameproof threads were actually necessary.

It made sense. The only reason Natsumi had been safe uptil now was because she had so little talent. The only reason she was being considered for being the next Vongola boss was because she was literally the last of the bloodline eligible for it. Everyone else was dead. Most people weren't even aware of Natsumi's existence. To this end, they were forbidden to tell anyone anything, save for Kiritsugu and Irisviel.

Not that they would have. The Emiya Clan might have been associated with the Vongola Alliance, but they didn't answer to the higher ups. No one was stupid enough to try anything that might piss Kiritsugu off. Not after what happened to the old Einzbern Famiglia.

After giving the class the basic information required of her as a homeroom teacher, she let them all do there own thing for the rest of the morning period, as she took out a book and leaned back in her chair. She did her best to ignore the looks she was getting from the perverted boys, something that wasn't nearly as funny in real life as it was in anime.

It was going to be a long eight months. Summer break couldn't come soon enough.

"Excuse me, Von Einzbern-sensei? The transfer student has arrived." Leysritt's eyes went to the door to see the man from the front office standing there, rubbing his hands nervously.

Great.

"Alright, send him in." Leysritt said, closing her book and putting it away. She almost grumbled to herself as the silver haired teen walked through the door, a grumpy scowl on his face and hands in his pockets. About 80% of the girls in the class started to cue about how cool he looked.

Of course, she knew exactly who the kid was, and that he was going to be an obnoxious pain in her ass.

"We're still in the homeroom period, so feel free to take your time introducing yourself." Leysritt said to the boy.

The stupid shit clicked his tongue at her for no damn reason before replying. "Fine, I'm Gokudera Hayato. I'm a transfer student from Italy. Happy, 'sensei'?"

Leysritt closed her eyes and tried to keep her self-control. This was going to be a LONG eight months.

Smokin' Bomb Hayato, infamous in the underworld for being an annoying, arrogant, misogynistic little shithead who provoked feeling of genuine hatred and disgust out of just about everyone he ever met. After running away from home at the age of eight, he tended to go from Famiglia to Famiglia. It would never be long before he would be kicked back out onto the streets again. This was mostly likely because no one could fucking stand him. Beyond the Mafia's distaste of bastards and orientals, he had a horrible attitude problem, was constantly throwing his dynamite around whenever people made fun of him, and was just an all around menace. It would take a true saint to put up with the brat.

Why Reborn would want him for Natsumi's Famiglia, Leysritt had no clue. Maybe he was trying to do the boy's sister a favor, since the two had a 'thing' a few years back… if that damned cradle robber even cared! Reborn should be ashamed of himself for preying on that girl the way he did! She had only been 13!

Poor Bianchi, her life was something straight out of one of Leysritt's afternoon soap operas.

A young and impressionable child, broken up about her young brother running away from home, her ex-boyfriend's cruel parting words, and her father and mother's strained relationship. But all Reborn saw was a promising young assassin and an amusing toy. He played with her heart without ever really entertaining the notion that something real might come of it. The little bastard, Bianchi deserved better than that, she just couldn't see it.

...Now that Leysritt thought about it, Bianchi had been the same age as Natsumi when she first met Reborn.

She had to suppress a shudder at the thought.

"...Just go sit down. There is an empty seat over…"

While Leysritt was talking, he walked away, right up to little Natsumi and glared straight down at her. Then, he kicked her desk back into her stomach, knocking her back so hard that her seat tipped backwards, sending her falling to the ground.

"So pathetic." Gokudera said with a cocky huff.

"Wh… why?" Natsumi said, trembling as she looked up into the boy's angry green eyes.

"The Vongola would be over if a weak little girl like you became the 10th." The silver haired boy growled at the scared little girl.

...This stupid little bastard.

"Excuse me!?" Leysritt said grabbing onto Gokudera's shoulder and pressing one finger into a pressure point.

"Ah! What the hell was that for!?" Gokudera shouted as he spun around, knocking Leysritt's hand away.

"I should be the one asking you that? Would you mind explaining to me why you have decided to assault one of your fellow students? Because the only think I can think of is that your are aiming to be expelled on your first day." Leysritt demanded of him, her arms crossed.

"None of your damn business."

"I am the sensei here, so it is quite literally my job." Leysritt said, as if talking to an idiot. The kid didn't respond, just clicked his tongue again as he started to pull out a cigarette.

Leysritt immediately snatched it away, her hand moving so fast that his eyes couldn't follow. It took him a moment to even realize it was gone. "There is no smoking inside of the school. In fact, it is illegal for a boy your age to smoke at all."

"Come on, I smoked all the time in Italy!" Gokudera said angrily.

"Don't try to pull that one on me. The smoking age in Italy is also 18." Leysritt said grabbing another one from him as he went for him.

"Grrr, just leave me alone you stupid fucking cunt!" Gokudera shouted.

The brat gave out a scream of pain as Leysritt's right hand shot up, grabbed onto his long silver hair, and lifted him clean off the ground. The other students gasped, either at Gokudera's gall, or the display of physical strength of the slender woman, lifting up an eighty pound child with one hand.

Leysritt chuckled to herself, since this was nothing. She wasn't even using her Cloud Flames at the moment. Say what you want about those utter psychopaths in the Einzbern Famiglia's research and development division, they knew how to make a strong woman.

"It seems like you have a bit of an attitude problem. Well, no matter. I hear that our school Disciplinary Committee is good at dealing with people like you." Leysritt said with a cheerful smile as she started to walk away, dragging Gokudera behind her. "I'll be back before our actual class starts! So be good everyone!"

* * *

Hibari was reading over the list of parts, provided by Emiya Shirou, for what they would need in order to install an additional set of breakers, in order to balance the school's power consumption and remove the risk of a fire. As usual, the Chidori had worked with incredible efficiency, despite the previous day's distractions.

He would admit, it had taken him by surprise when the mechanic had gone out of his way in order to discipline the offending party himself, before the committee ever had a chance. He didn't know that the Chidori had it in him.

He didn't mind. Herbivores who grouped up in order to attack small animals were the worst of the worst. They had earned their scars. It was just interesting.

While the Chidori was a capable individual with a bow, and could perform in both boxing and kendo, he had always been something of a pacifist. He had simply never been interested in fighting others, showing his dominance. Which had always stumped the Disciplinary Committee Leader. He wouldn't have even gone to archery competitions, if Hibari didn't force him to, for the glory of their school. But it seemed like he just needed the right motivation to make him bare his fangs.

The victim of the disturbance was a childhood friend of the Chidori's. Hibari supposed that even someone like him would react when their small animals were threatened. It was a pity he didn't let his carnivore side show more often. Though he supposed that it was only the Chidori's passive yet daring nature that allowed the two of them to coexist. That, and his skills at repair and preparing tea.

What Hibari didn't understand was why the Chidori had decided to target the Herbivore teachers after dealing with the Herbivore students.

Hibari looked up when he heard a knock at the door. "Come in."

The door opened and one of the new teachers walked in, dragging a boy behind them by his hair. "Hello Hibari-kun. I have a bit of a problem student here that I was hoping you would help straighten out." The woman said as she pulled the boy up. He was kicking and swearing, but utterly powerless against the woman.

"His crimes?" Hibari asked, giving the boy an almost predatory look.

"He has a disruptive attitude, assaulted his fellow students, and attempted to smoke in class." The woman explained.

"Hm… understood." Hibari said with a nod.

"Great. I need to get back to my class, so I'll just leave him to you." The woman then put the boy down and walked out the reception room. Leaving the boy alone with Hibari.

The silver haired Herbivore pushed himself to his feet, grumbling all the while, then he looked at Hibari was a glare. "What the hell are you looking at?"

Hibari didn't answer. He just smiled, and took out his tonfas.

* * *

Reborn chuckled to himself as he sat in his secret observation bunker, watching the day's events transpirer.

Poor Hayato. While a normal teacher might have been unable to handle him, Leysritt was far from ordinary. Being the peak of bioengineering, the Von Einzbern women were created to be physically beyond an ordinary human and each of them was programmed from the get go to be masters of combat.

While their level of skill and power wasn't extraordinary in the underworld's highest circles, they weren't something Hayato could compare to. Nor could he compare to the talents of the young Hibari.

Perhaps this would teach him a valuable lesson in not underestimating women. That would be something he would need to learn if he was going to become a member of Natsumi's Famiglia. If such a thing was even possible.

Well, Reborn had done everything he could for the boy. He had led him straight up to the water's edge, now it was up to him to drink. Hopefully without drowning himself.

Reborn continued to watch, even as Hayato's body was carried out by some of the members of the Disciplinary Committee and was being tossed into the garbage bin behind the school. However, as the lid was shut on the unconscious teen, all of his displays in his bunker when dead, along with the lights, ventilation, and the coffee machine.

"Hm? Did the power get cut off?" Reborn mumbled as Leon turned into a spelunking hat, in order to give him some light. He hit the elevator button, but got no response.

Annoying, but not really a problem. A hitman as great as him always had alternatives. Still, he would need to check on what happened.

Switching into his 'electrician' disguise, he started up the emergency ladder, back up into the school and towards the external generator building towards the back of the school yard.

Being constantly perceived as a baby was rather obnoxious, especially since babies tended to draw attention more than most adults. So Reborn had several disguises that would alter people's perspectives, making them believe he was whoever and whatever he told them he was. It was the reason why he could walk up to Nana with the body of a one year old, tell her he was a home tutor and she would simply accept it as the truth.

Only people like Natsumi, with natural talent or skills useful in seeing through illusions, would feel as if something was wrong. It was amusing to him to watch as Natsumi freaks out about Reborn's unnatural existence, only for everyone else to think she was just overreacting.

Like all the weird mystic items that the Mafia used, the disguises were based off of the magical items that existed in the olden times, hundreds of years before the creation of the Vongola Famiglia, back when magic still persisted in the world.

Not that many know about them, as the Famiglias that possess such items keep them so secret that most believe them to just be legends. Most Mafiosos, even the ones in the know, didn't believe that Reborn's Dying Will Bullets actually existed, and the 10 year bazooka was nothing more than a child's story to them. Even if they witness them used with their own eyes, they wouldn't fully believe it.

So few believed these days.

There were a few true wizards and witches left in the world, who still knew how to use actual magic, but the art of casting spells has been almost completely lost. Even those who remained could barely even be considered a shadow of the past. However, alchemy survived and the magic items left behind from that lost age were researched. From that research, they developed the tools that the Mafia used today, including things like Reborn's Dying Will Bullets and disguises.

So as long as Reborn wore his disguise, everyone would simply accept that he was the school's electrician, ignoring everything their eyes and common sense told them.

However, when he entered the isolated building, he was surprised to see Emiya Shirou working to undo all of the work that Reborn himself did. The boy's hands were moving quickly, as he removed wiring, cutting and restoring power within seconds. His proficiency was comparable to Reborn's own, and the tiny hitman was left watching the boy work, impressed by his skill.

But as he watched, Shirou called back to him. "Can I help you with something?" The boy said, without turning his head around, or slowing in his progress.

Reborn's mouth twitched slightly at being called out, but he played it cool. "I'm a local electrician, Reborto. The school hired me to take a look at the power." Reborn said with his usual smile.

"Is that so?" Shirou said, looking over at Reborn. For a second, Reborn wondered if the boy could see through the unusual properties of his disguise. But his next words left Reborn disappointed. "I was told that the school board turned you down because the cost estimates were too high."

"Must have been talking about a different electrician. I was just hired yesterday." Reborn said walking forwards. "Would you mind telling me what you are doing? You look as though you are a student. Is it really okay for you to be messing around in here?"

"I've been fixing things around here for over a year now. I know what I'm doing." Shirou said with a shrug. "Though I'll admit, I've never seen a hack job quite like this one before. Whoever did it had no care for safety at all and just bypassed the breakers in order to connect a bunch of new equipment. While there weren't any burnouts, they were really skirting the edge."

"Is that so." Reborn hummed. It was pretty much the truth. While Reborn had been sure not to push anything too far, he had ignored most ordinary safety measures. There was about a 3% chance that it would cause a few problems in the next year, but that was a chance Reborn was willing to take in the spirit of getting things done early.

It was annoying that everything was being undone, but he could always redo it later. He was more curious than upset.

"I've requested additional parts in order to reinstall everything later, without the current safety hazards. They should be in by the end of the week." Shirou reported.

"Hm… Well kid, since you seem to have everything under control, I'll just leave you too it." Reborn said before turning and walking away, letting the boy get back to work. He still had other things to do.

Emiya Shirou. What an interesting kid.

* * *

What a terrifying monster.

It was Shirou's first time in such close proximity to the 'baby' that had caused so much trouble, and he was already left wondering what kind of monster it was. From what Shirou was able to tell, that pacifier around its neck acted as a channel to an absolutely insane amount of raw power.

And with the already chaotic nature of the yellow flames, which held a power related to increasing entropy in order to speed up objects or even chemical reactions, it felt as if he had been in the presence of chaos incarnate.

It looked for all the world like a baby, no more than a year old, but it certainly didn't talk like one. It was also wearing a sort of disguise that assaulted Shirou's psyche. If he had been an ordinary individual, without proper magic resistance, he would have believed that it really was Reborto. Though Shirou had pretend that nothing was out of the ordinary, he was in no way comfortable around it.

What the hell was that thing? And more importantly, what did it want with Natsumi? It was clearly responsible for the sudden appearance and disappearance of Natsumi's flames, but Shirou still didn't even know what to make of that.

Part of him wanted to draw his blade that very moment and attempt to cut the thing down, but his more rational side reminded him of the damages such a fight would incur and the attention it would draw.

If it wanted Natsumi dead, she would have been, so that wasn't its objective. Shirou needed to gather more information about it and its goals before he made a move. Observe, issolate, remove. The fundamentals of any assassination. The only problem was that the 'baby' was probably already aware of him, and that he was more than he appeared. Shirou would need to be more careful in the future.

The only question was, did it disguise itself in order to test if Shirou would be able to see through the illusion, or did it wanted to see if Shirou would pretend not to see through it. Had Shirou just won a tactical victory, or did he blunder into a defeat?

Nothing was certain in a game of assassins, and Shirou couldn't afford to lose.

* * *

Hayato awake to a black bag being dumped on top of him, earning a gasp of pain, not loud enough to draw the attention of the janitor, who simply closed the lid on the bin.

He supposed he should be grateful that the Japanese separate their burnable and non-burnable trash, so there wasn't any moldy pizza in there with him.

Pushing himself out and over the edge of the container, he fell to the ground with a thud, drawing another breath.

That prefect bastard had done him good. Hayato recognized the feeling of heavily bruised ribs and the taste of blood in his mouth. He'd like to claim that his injured pride hurt more, but that would be a lie.

That wasn't to say his pride didn't hurt too.

How pathetic.

And after Reborn had told him that he could become the new candidate for the Vongola Famiglia if he killed that Natsumi girl. He had looked down on her because she was weak, even said as much to her face, then immediately after, he gets easily overwhelmed by a couple of civis, to the point where he didn't even have the chance to fight back. Even when he went for his dynamite, they just disarmed him and continued to hit him.

Yep, that was a strong hit to his pride.

And Reborn had probably seen it all. What would he do if the legendary hitman decided to withdraw his offer? The flight to Japan had been a one way ticket. It was one way because he only had one option. He would either succeed at his job, and earn himself a place in Vongola, or he might as well be dead. This was his last chance to find a place where he could actually belong, something he had been looking for his entire life. Killing a girl might have left a bad taste in Hayato's mouth, but that was the life of a mafioso for you. You don't do what you do because you like it, you do what you do because it gets you what you want and what you need.

The boy struggled to get himself to his feet, using a wall for support. Damn, that tonfa bastard must have hit him in the head hard. It must have been hours, but his head was still spinning and he felt like he was going to throw up. He didn't even make it a few steps before he was on his hands and knees again.

"Damn it. Damn it." Hayato cursed. He cursed that bitch teacher. He cursed that asshole prefect. He cursed his own bastard self.

Why did he even bother? No one wanted a bastard like him. If he died, not a single person in this world would shed a single tear for him. If they had just killed him, they would have been doing him a favor.

"H… hey, are you alright!?" Hayato turned his head as he felt a hand gingerly touching his shoulder. His head was still unsteady, but he could still make her out. Natsumi was leaning over him with a frightened face. Hayato pulled away, and then groaned from the sudden jerk of his body. "Careful, don't move so much." Natsumi scolded him as she looked him over. "This looks bad. Just try to stay still. I'll get some help."

Hayato stared at her, not entirely believing what he was seeing, then he just started to laugh.

* * *

Reborn had stolen her lunch, right out from under Natsumi's nose, and in the middle of school too. She had tried to chase after him, but the little guy moved fast and she lost sight of him behind the school.

That was where she spotted Gokudera.

She almost just ran away the moment she saw him. He had frightened her, and was a part of the mafia. She honest wanted nothing to do with him.

But…

Seeing him like that, she couldn't bring herself to turn a blind eye.

"H… hey, are you alright!?" She asked him as she tried to help him steady himself. He had turned his head to her, his eyes barely focused, but as soon as he seemed to register who it was, a look of hostility entered his face and he tried to pull away. Natsumi flinched at his expression, nearly bolting, but his groan of pain rooted her in place. "Careful, don't move so much." Natsumi scolded him as she looked him over. Hibari must had hit him hard. Blood was coming from his nose, and he seemed to be trying to shield his side. "This looks bad. Just try to stay still. I'll get some help."

Natsumi was just about to go when the boy started to laugh. It was a laugh that sent a shiver up her spine. Even dazed as he seemed to be, his green eyes were feral. Natsumi watched stumbled back a little as the boy pulled out a cigarette and started to light it.

"I… I just have to kill her, and then I become the new candidate for being the next Vongola boss. That what you said. Right, Reborn-san?"

"Nn, that's right." Natsumi turned her head in surprise to see Reborn there, eating her lunch while watching everything play out with his unreadable eyes.

"Re...Reborn." Natsumi said, feeling a slight sting of betrayal, though since she had only just met Reborn, and only knew that he was a part of the mafia, she shouldn't have been so surprised. Of course he would do something.

"Then, let's get this over with!" Gokudera shouted. Natsumi was shocked when the boy pulled out a stick of dynamite. He used his lit cigarette to light it before throwing it straight towards the stunned girl, as Natsumi could only stumbled away from the explosive.

But before the dynamite even reached the ground, something else came spinning through the air, and the stick of dynamite was batted away by a wrench. With its trajectory changed, the explosive bounced a good distance away before finally detinating.

"Wh… who the hell are you?" Gokudera said as someone moved between him and Natsumi, someone the girl was very familiar with.

"Shirou-senpai!?" Natsumi said as she looked up at the back of the boy's red head.

"Don't worry Natsumi. Let me handle this." Shirou said, his voice light and friendly, though he didn't turn his head away from those in front of him. Though that didn't necessary mean Gokudera. "So, you're the baby that's been causing so much trouble."

"Ciaossu. I'm Reborn, the world's strongest hitman." Reborn said with a raise of Natsumi's chopsticks as he continued to eat her lunch.

"A hitman?" Shirou said, sounding genuinely surprised. "What does a hitman want with Natsumi?"

"Do you really not know?" Reborn asked with a slight tilt of his head.

"Shirou-senpai, be careful! They are part of the real mafia!" Natsumi shouted.

"How about you get out of my way!" Gokudera shouted, pulling out half a dozen more sticks of dynamite and lighting them with his cigarette. Natsumi gave a squeal of terror as the boy throw them, but Shirou remained calm. Quick as a flash, he pulled a pair of wire cutters from his tool bag.

There was something beautifully fluid about the way that Shirou moved, cutting the fuses off of each of the dynamite sticks before they could even reach the ground. "Using dynamite, in a place like this? Are you insane? People could get hurt."

Gokudera didn't respond as he had put more cigarettes into his mouth before pulling out three dozen sticks of dynamite. He struggled to even hold them all as he used to cigarettes to light the fuses. Shirou squatted down and lifted his wire cutters, but before Gokudera tried to throw them, he gasped and coughed out his cigarettes. His body swayed and he began to fall, as his earlier injuries protested his movements.

The light dynamite scatting all around him.

Natsumi gasped as in that single moment she saw the boy's expression go from pained, to shocked, to panicked, and then finally to acceptance. He was going to die. If those things exploded he would die for sure.

"No!" Natsumi shouted in panic. Regardless of what he had done, Natsumi didn't want the boy to die. But there was nothing she could do. She was powerless to…

*Bang*

As the bullet slammed into Natsumi's forehead, all doubt left her. She wouldn't let this happen. Even if she were to die, she would stop this!

Everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion as Natsumi dived past a startled Shirou towards the sticks of dynamite, her hands reached out and grabbing each of the fuses, crushing the tiny sparks between her fingers. The only thing in her mind was the next fuse. She had to put them all out in time.

She barely even registered when Shirou moved forward in order to help her. His movements seemed so sluggish when compared to her own, where as before he had been so fast.

Natsumi's arms kept moving, and within a span of four seconds, they had managed to extinguish all three dozen sticks of dynamite. Only then did Natsumi start to regain her senses as her breathing returned to normal. "Thank goodness." She said with a sigh.

"You… you saved me." Gokudera said, his eyes wide and his jaw hanging open as he stared at Natsumi in disbelief.

"Ah… I uh…" Natsumi stuttered nervously, not sure what to do now. Was the guy going to try to kill her again?

But rather than making another attempt on her life, Gokudera slammed his head to the ground at her feet. "Thank you, boss!" He shouted, perhaps scaring the girl even more. "I was wrong to ever question you! You are the only one who could possibly be the tenth boss!"

"Congratulations. Now that you have beaten him, he will forever be your lackey, in accordance to Vongola Law. Great work." Reborn said.

"Hiieee!?" Natsumi squealed in panic. "I… But I don't need a…!"

Natsumi tried to object when she felt something being placed on her shoulders. She turned her head to see Shirou, standing there without his school blazer on, purposely not looking in her direction. "I hope this doesn't start becoming a trend."

Natsumi looked down at herself and then gave another squeal. "NOT AGAIN!"

* * *

**Bianchi was around 13-14 when she started dating Reborn, who was in his 50s, at the very least. Makes you wonder which one of them was creepier.**

* * *

**Some people want to know why I didn't say Shirou was Lightning.**

**Because Lightning would add nothing to Shirou's skill set (neither would mist), and because it's job description just isn't him.**

**The Lightning Guardian doesn't 'defend' the family, it draw attacks away from them, 'tanking' damage.**

**The Storm is the first in and last out of every battle and seeks to eliminate enemies.**

**And because Gokudera can act as the Lightning Guardian in the place of Lambo. If you don't use Haru. Honestly, Gokudera could just be dropped from the roster all together at this point.**


	3. Chapter 3

"...I guess I'll just have to rewear this one." Natsumi mumbled as she looked over her last surviving school uniform. She had worn it the day before, and the day before that, after the incident with Gokudera, the day before that, when her first set was destroyed, and she had been wearing them the day before that too, before this mess even started.

With all the running around Reborn had been causing her to do, as well as the panicked sweats she had, they were really starting to smell. They really needed a wash. Usually, her mother would wash the clothes every Thursday, but she had been doting over Reborn instead, and Reborn hadn't given Natsumi the chance to do it herself.

It looked like she would have to wear them for a fifth day in a row and hope that no one noticed. She dreaded the thought of another unusual occurrence costing her this outfit too.

She would have to broach the subject of getting new school uniforms with her mother. It wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to, as her mother still had no idea anything strange was going on. She still didn't think that there was anything unusual about Reborn, or the fact that he claimed to be a home tutor.

Why didn't she think this was weird? The only other time she ever acted like this was with Natsumi's father.

Maybe she should ask Leysritt or Setta for help getting replacements.

Because of Reborn waking her up with a series of low powered flashbangs, Natsumi was up earlier than usual. She decided to spend the time she had gained by leaving the house early as well, to hopefully avoid any plans Reborn might have to make her run to school, making her clothes more sweat stained than they already were. Her entire body still felt sore from the last few stunts he pulled.

It seemed that each time Reborn used those bullets of his on her, she would go into a berserker state and use far more strength than her body normally had. But after it was over, she would still feel the burn from everything she had done. Shirou's first aid had helped one the first day, with her feeling back at her pathetic best the morning after, but after the incident with Gokudera, Natsumi felt the full burn from her over exertion.

But when she opened her front door, she was met with a bit of a surprise.

Standing there at the end of the path leading up to her door were Shirou and Gokudera. The silver haired boy was glaring at Shirou with a face that would cause most people to shiver, though Shirou seemed to be just ignoring him, making Gokudera even angrier.

However, the moment Natsumi opened the door, Gokudera's expression changed completely. "Ah, Good morning, Judaime!" He said with a wide smile and a bow. "I had woken up earlier this morning, so I thought that you might want to walk to school together."

"Oh… ah… sure." Natsumi said.

She wanted to scream no. She honestly didn't want Gokudera around. He was violent and dangerous, plus he kept insisting that she was his boss. Her insistence that she wanted nothing to do with the mafia only fell on deaf ears with him. But… he seemed like a stray puppy. One that had been kicked far too many times.

Natsumi felt pity for him.

Standing behind Gokudera, Shirou rolled his eyes before giving Natsumi a smile. "Good morning, Natsumi. I've got something for you." Natsumi blinked as she saw Shirou lifting up a large bag, the kind one would see from a department store.

Natsumi took the bag and looked inside. "School uniforms!?"

"I figured you might be running low after I noticed you reusing one yesterday." Shirou said with his kind smile.

"...You noticed." Natsumi said, blushing a bit. "Thank you, Shirou-senpai."

"It was nothing, but you should probably go change if you want to be on time for school." Shirou said with a wave of the hand. "And if you do have a problem making it on time, I'll whoever is at the gate to let you in as a favor to me."

"You're a lifesaver." Natsumi said with a bow before taking the clothes and returning inside. She didn't even notice the jealous look that Gokudera was giving Shirou.

When the door closed behind Natsumi, Shirou didn't bother do dodge when Gokudera grabbed onto his shirt. "What the hell are you trying to pull!? Why are you trying to get in good with the Boss!?" The Italian brat growled into Shirou's face, as if trying to intimidate him.

How cute.

"Nothing. I'm just being a good friend." Shirou said with a slightly smug tone. Before Gokudera had time to react he was face down on the ground, his knee on his shoulder, one arm locked and a hand pressing his face into the dirt. "But let me ask you, what the hell are you trying to pull?"

"D...damn you."

"You show up here trying to kill Natsumi, then suddenly you are acting like her personal servant, spouting nonsense about her being your boss." Shirou said as he pressed down hard enough to cause a little bit of pain on the boy who had still yet to recover from his injuries from his meeting with Hibari. "What is it you're after? What do you and Reborn want with Natsumi?"

Gokudera didn't answer, just swore a lot and tried to struggle against Shirou's hold. Not that he would have ever been able to break free of Shirou's grip.

He was only released when Shirou felt eyes on his back. He was immediately to his feet, hands held out at his sides and he looked straight up into Natsumi's window to see Reborn sitting there casually, with a smile on his face and a cup of coffee in his baby hands.

Shirou and Reborn stared at each other for a moment before Shirou turned his attention back to Gokudera. "You only get one chance. I'll forget about what happened the other day, but if you ever threaten her again, you won't get away with it." Shirou told the boy as he turned and walked back home.

* * *

"He's his father's son alright." Reborn chuckled as he watched the boy go.

Shirou's intervention during the Gokudera incident had been surprising, though it hadn't stopped Gokudera from being bathed in Natsumi's Sky Flames and becoming her loyal bitch.

Reborn had lured Natsumi straight to the boy and there had been a barrier erected in order to make sure that outsiders would not get involved. Yet Shirou ignored the barrier entirely and came to Natsumi's defense.

While the physical strength and speed he displayed were at the level of a normal human, his accuracy and reflexes were borderline superhuman and unbelievable for someone who supposedly lacked training. Not to mention how cool headed he was in the face of high explosives.

Throughout the entire exchange, his focus had been on Reborn, rather than Gokudera, as if he sensed that the baby hitman was the greater threat, even though he seemed to honestly have no clue who Reborn even was. When Reborn shot Natsumi with one of his Dying Will Bullets, he had felt a strong killing intent coming from the boy in the short moments before Natsumi returned to her feet with her flames in full blaze.

The boy was strong, skilled, and perceptive. A natural born hitman. Reborn couldn't help but to wonder who his biological parents where. He had asked, but Kiritsugu had insisted that he didn't know.

Regardless, he would make a good Guardian and perhaps even a right hand man for Natsumi. Kiri and Iris might not be happy, but it wouldn't be Reborn's fault if the boy decided to involve himself. It seemed that he would be more than willing to jump into the flames to help his childhood friend.

Shirou had Storm and Sun flames, both present in a quality high enough to be easily recognizable.

While having multiple types of flames wasn't too uncommon, having even a single high quality flame considered rare. And it was only when flames were present in high enough quality that they could show their true nature. Otherwise, the flames were functionally identical. Gokudera was an oddity, with five different elements, each present in a high enough purity to show a few of their special traits. Though special amplifiers could be used in order to increase the quality of the flames, such as Reborn's own pacifier.

Kiritsugu was considered something of a monster in the higher circles of the underworld by having the contradicting element of the Sun and Rain flames in extremely high purity. With Sun Flames having the 'Activating' quality and Rain Flames having the 'Tranquility' quality, Kiritsugu could speed up and slow down objects within his effective area by focusing low frequency waves on them. He could effectively control the flow of time around him. In was this ability that cemented him a place in the top ten strongest in the world, even though he lacked the quantity of raw power of many others.

But strong as Kiritsugu was, Reborn's teachers instincts told him that Shirou would be even stronger still.

Looking away from the window and back into Natsumi's room, Reborn saw the girl changing into one of the new uniforms that Shirou had provided her. Earning a small feeling of annoyance from the tiny hitman. As he was a baby, it was rare that women felt on guard about their bodies in front of him.

While this was a bit of an amusement at first, thirty years cursed had destroyed the novelty of it, and now it just felt like an implied insult to his now underdeveloped manhood. Though looking at the girl's thin and extremely scrawny body, the little hitman couldn't help but to frown.

Something wasn't right.

If just shown a picture of the girl, Reborn would have guessed that she suffered from malnutrition and some type of muscular degeneration. The girl was essentially a toothpick. But even in his few short days of observing her, Reborn could say for certainty that she was eating enough. Her mother was actually feeding her more than the average girl her age would eat. And since she participated in school and walked everywhere, simply living life should have built up more muscle than the girl had.

He did a quick blood test and found that her enzyme balances were completely out of whack, but couldn't find any genetic key that would explain it all.

And it wasn't just her physical condition that didn't make sense. She went to school every day and at the very least attempted to do her homework. So how was the girl's grades this bad? You would expect these kinds of scores from someone who doesn't show up to class or study at all.

It went beyond normal stupidity. Her mental capacities were somehow crippled. And it carried over into her hand-eye coordination as well, with her often tripping all over herself. There were also issues of mental fatigue, resembling sleep deprivation, even though Reborn knew she got ten hours.

All of this, along with her mysterious disappearing flames, just wasn't adding up.

Well, that was why Reborn was there. It was his job to sort this stuff out and help put her on the road to recovery, making a proper mafia boss out of her and preparing her for the Vongola Ring she would one day inherit.

It wasn't like this was the worst or most unusual case that Reborn had come across.

This was not nearly as bad as Bianchi's case, when her poison related abilities were starting to develop and she could not eat without poisoning herself. It had taken a lot of work to find a way to help her body break down the poison so that she could safely eat again, and she had spent much of that time with an IV in her arm. Her family's servants were too afraid to even approach the girl.

Reborn had been reminded of the Curse of Midas, and wondered what the girl could have ever done to receive such a curse. She had never emotionally recovered from those dark days.

Though where Bianchi's issue was obvious to even the most casual observer, there was not such a clear explanation for Natsumi's deficiencies. Reborn would need to find the underlying problem and find a solution for it.

Until then, his job was to beat that defeatist attitude out of her head. She had started simply accepting that she could never accomplish anything as a fact of reality, and that mindset couldn't be allowed to continue.

Reborn had five years to prepare the girl, so there was no rush. If he could make Dino into a top tier mafia boss in three years, he could make Natsumi one in five. Right now, fixing her social issues and giving her some cheap wins for her self-esteem was more important that hard training. Once she had a family she would be willing to die for, that is when the real training could begin.

"It seems that Emiya-kun knows your sizes well." Reborn teased as Natsumi finished putting on the new set of clothes and threw the old set in a basket.

"Don't say things like that." The girl replied with a small flush. "I'm going to school now, so don't cause any more trouble than you already have."

Reborn chuckle to himself as she left. There was no way in hell he wouldn't cause trouble. He just needed to decide the particular favour for the day. But before he started scheming, he had to take care of business first. While he would have to thank Shirou for saving him the trouble of getting replacements for the clothes himself, since it was a gift, Reborn would have to check them.

It wasn't that he honestly expected the Emiya boy of trying to bug Natsumi, but it was standard procedure and Reborn was a professional.

As Reborn dug through the bag to look at the other two spare uniforms, Leon transformed into special x-ray goggles, letting Reborn see everything in layers. "Hm. Well what do we have here?"

Reborn didn't know what else to say as he saw a large array of hebrew script and celtic runes hidden betweens lays of cloth and inside of the folds in the fabric. Leon was telling him that the thread was not normal cloth, but rather some kind of metal, made to be as thin as a spider's thread, and more than ten times as strong. It was drawing in the free energy in the air in order to… What?

Taking out one of the pieces of clothing, Reborn pushed some of his Dying Will Flames into it. Not only did it not burn, but the material started to absorb the flames, becoming more durable until it was saturated. After that, it started to vent away excess energy. Some of the vented energy seemed to be directed inwards and held a restorative property that had nothing to do with Reborn's own Sun Flames.

Enchanted, flame proof clothing? High class one's too, of a system Reborn didn't recognize. Where in the world did it come from? Had the Emiyas prepared flame resistant clothes for the girl?

No, they hadn't known about Natsumi's unusually strong flames any more than Reborn had, and there wasn't time to request something being made. Besides, it was agreed on that they shouldn't go to outside sources. The Emiyas didn't even have the kind of money or connections needed to splurge on three sets of flame resistant clothing?

...And the one who gave Natsumi the clothes was Shirou.

A smile spread across Reborn's face. "Leon my friend, things are getting much more interesting."

* * *

"Emiya Shirou, take responsibility for what you have done."

"...Pardon?" Shirou said, a little dumbfounded.

He had gone to the Disciplinary Committee's room before school in order to report that he had finished fixing all the breakers for the school's power when Hibari threw him a curve ball.

Kusakabe cleared his throat into his hand before elaborating on what his boss had just said. "The qualifying rounds for the nation wide middle school Kendo competition will be taking place in one week, and our school has a reputation to uphold. However, because of recent events, the entirety of the Kendo team has been expelled. Hibari-sama wishes for you to establish a new Kendo team and train them up in order to defend our school's honor."

"Win, or I will bite you to death." Hibari added to his subordinate's explanation.

"Please tell me you're joking. A week isn't enough time to train up a batch of rookies. I would barely have enough time to teach them the rules." Shirou said, his shoulders dropping.

"I do not wish to hear your excuses, Chidori."

Shirou let out a sigh and face palmed a little. "...It's the normal rule set for Kendo competitions, correct? Two teams of five, first to win three matches wins the set. So if Hibari-san and I both win our matches, then we really just need one other competent person."

"I will not be participating." Hibari said, shooting Shirou down. "Only the weak fight with teams." Kusakabe gave Shirou an apologetic look as the magus stared at the head prefect.

"...Alright. So I'll need to find at least two competent people. Kusakabe-san, you will be joining." Shirou said, more as an order than a request. Young and inexperienced as he was, Kusakabe had trained some with Hibari's family and was a good deal stronger than your average middle school student, or most normal humans in general. His skills were lacking, but at least he had a good physical condition to act as a foundation. Though it was still questionable if even Shirou could prepare him in time. One week wasn't exactly a long time.

"If that is your request, Emiya-senpai." Kusakabe said, giving a short bow.

"That means we need five more people, three participents and one registered substitute, correct? Spread word around that I'm looking for anyone willing to join and get permission for us to use the school's practice equipment." Shirou instructed the first year.

"I will spread the word, but I'm afraid the school doesn't have any equipment. The old equipment was owned by the teacher who was the acting instructor, but he took it with him when he was recently fired." Kusakabe informed Shirou. "We're also going to need a teacher to represent us. We also have to have our team registration in before monday, or we will not be allowed to participate. So you will need to have a team assembled by the end of today so that the paperwork can be handled over the weekend."

"...I suppose this is karma." Shirou said with a sigh, rubbing the back of his head. "When did middle school life become so complicated?"

*Boom!*

Hibari looked out the window at the school gate to see that the metal gate had been destroyed. Getting up from his seat, he grabbed his tonfas and went out the door. Shirou could smell the blood lust coming from the prefect.

Gokudera, you dumb bastard.

* * *

Was it wrong for Natsumi to be glad that Gokudera was once again sent to the nurse's office?

When they arrived at school a few minutes after the warning bell, the Disciplinary Committee members let Natsumi through without a complaint, since Shirou had told them to. However, it seemed that his instructions had forgotten to mention Gokudera, and many of the Disciplinary Committee members had recognized him from before. Not liking his attitude, they were going to send him to the tarty tank to copy lines for the homeroom hour to learn punctuality. It was really just a warning, nothing more than a slap on the wrist, but Gokudera was having none of it.

That crazy kid pulled out dynamite and blow the gate open! Luckily, everyone was standing back, so no one was really hurt, but it was just insane. Gokudera was going to be expelled for sure, if not worse, once he recovered from his beating.

Natsumi would be glad to see her mafia stalker go. He was just so scary. Though something told her that Reborn wasn't going to let her get off that easy.

At least this morning she wouldn't have the boy bowing and scraping to her during class again. It was a level of embarrassing that she could only call horrifying. His assaulting everyone who commented on it didn't make matters any better.

"Alright class, today we have swimming scheduled for the boys while the girls do home economics. Then next week the assignments will be switched and it will be the boys turn to try their hands act cooking while the girls enjoy the pool. Girls, split up into groups of three and start thinking about what you want to make. Boys, get down to the changing rooms." Leysritt instructed them. The class did what she said, quickly and with minimal amounts of noise.

After what happened to Gokudera that first day, none of them wanted to make her mad, even if it was really Hibari who had been the one to beat the boy up.

As the other students milled about, Natsumi's head sank. Every time it came time to split up into groups, no one had ever invited her to be part of theirs. She would always be the last one left. The one that no one wanted, separate from the rest.

"Natsumi-chan." Natsumi looked up to see Kyoko's smiling face. "Would you like to be part of our group?"

"Ca...can I really?"

* * *

"T...thank you for having me." Natsumi said awkwardly.

"You don't need to thank us, you know. You're a friend, not a charity case. So stop acting weird." Hana said with a shrug.

"Sorry!" Natsumi yipped, flinching slightly at having been called out.

"You don't need to apologize either. Now would you cut it out, you're making me feel like a bad guy." Hana said with a slight sigh.

"Sorry…" Natsumi said, flushing with embarrassment. Kyoko started to giggle a bit at the two's interaction.

"So, what do you think we should make?" Hana asked, crossing her arms.

"Strawberry shortcake." Kyoko said with a smile, taking out the book and moving to a page that was bookmarked.

"Of course. You and your cakes." Hana said, rolling her eyes before looking at Natsumi. "Any other opinions?"

"No. Stortcake is fine." Natsumi agreed.

"Alright then. Let's divide up the work and get started." Hana said with a smile.

Natsumi was placed in change of preparing the icing, which was simple enough. It was just putting powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisking it together. Meanwhile, Kyoko and Hana handled the cake batter and strawberries.

Though that wasn't to say that Natsumi wasn't focused. She desperately didn't want to accidentally ruin her chances of being friends by dropping the mixing bowl or something clumsy like that. Though ironically, it was the concentration that almost caused her to slip up, when Hana asked her a question she wasn't expecting out of nowhere.

"So what's the relationship between you and Emiya-senpai?"

"Hiieee?" Natsumi jumped, blushing at the girl's devious grin. "Wh… what do you mean by that?"

"Well, Kyoko said that she found you being comforted by Emiya-senpai, and that you seemed to know him. I was just interested in how, that's all." Hana said with a shrug. "Oh, is it supposed to be some kind of juice secret?"

"No." Natsumi said, shaking her head. "Shirou-senpai is my neighbor. We grew up knowing each other. He's kind of like an older brother for me."

"Really?" Hana said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"Then you won't mind me pursuing him?"

"...Huh!?" Natsumi didn't know what to say about that. She just hadn't seen it coming.

"Hana has had a crush on Emiya-senpai since she first saw him jogging with my brother." Kyoko giggled.

"Well, why not. He's a lot better than the rest of the stupid monkeys we have around here." Hana said, not the slightest bit embarrassed about her crush being named. "He has that deep look in his eyes that makes him really stand out. They're so deep and mature."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I mean, about his eyes." Natsumi said quickly, hoping Hana wouldn't misunderstand. "They always been like that, ever since I can remember. If anything, I think they've become softer with time. They used to frighten me a little."

When she first met Shirou, when she was only four years old, his hard eyes and rigid expression had made her think he was deeply unhappy, or that he had nothing going on inside of his heart. He was unnaturally quiet and never smiled, behaving like a walking corpse. He had still been a gentle sort, but it wasn't until later that his expression began to show that kindness.

'I suppose the fire must have left it's scars on him.'

She had heard about the fire that had left Shirou an orphan before Kiritsugu adopted him, and about his amnesia. Though she didn't share that information with Kyoko and Hana. It really wasn't her place to tell.

With the preparations made for their dish, they put the batter in the oven to bake and placed a wet paper towel over the icing to keep it moist. Then all they had to do was stand around and wait for it to be done.

"Hey Natsumi-chan, would you mind introducing me to Emiya-senpai?" Hana asked Natsumi as they stood around chatting.

"Well, I don't see why not. Since we live close to each other, I'll probably end up seeing him while walking home. So if we walk home together than..." Natsumi said a little nervously. She'd never walked home with friends from school before. It had been something of a dream of hers.

"That's a good plan. However, Emiya-san won't be walking home right after school is over." Natsumi jumped at the sound of Reborn's voice. She looked around along with the other girls, trying to find where it was coming from, when the unused oven across from them popped open to reveal Reborn. "Ciaossu."

"Reborn!? What were you doing in there!?" Natsumi shouted in horror. Though she seemed to be the only one shocked about where exactly was.

"Oh, it's you again. Hello Reborn-chan." Kyoko said with a smile.

"Guh, what is a brat doing here?" Hana grumbled, edging away from the tiny hitman.

"Because the previous Kendo team was disbanded, Emiya-san has been forced to become the new captain of the Kendo team by Hibari-san." Reborn reported to them. "If he can't build a team capable of win the qualifiers for the national tournament, Hibari has promised to punish him."

"What? And how do you know that?" Natsumi asked in a panic. Hibari had a reputation, and a deserved one. Natsumi had seen what he had done to Gokudera and didn't want the same to happen to Shirou.

"He is going to be holding his first meeting today after school. You should go in order to offer moral support. After all, he is part of your Famiglia." Reborn said, ignoring her question while maintaining his usual smile and thousand yard stare.

"W...What are you talking about!? He's my neighbor!" Natsumi cried out, glancing at Kyoko and Hana. She didn't want them to know about the craziness that was Reborn and the 'mafia'.

"He's in this mess because of you." Reborn said, his face turning to one of disappointment, which caused Natsumi to pause. "It's because he removed the old Kendo team who was so cruel to you that he is being made to replace them. The least you could do is go to wish him luck."

"Shirou-senpai…" Natsumi mumbled. She had noticed that the old Kendo team had disappeared, but she hadn't known that it was Shirou who had done it, or that it was for her sake.

She looked up as she felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Kyoko smiling at her. "Let's go and cheer them on."

"R...right." Natsumi said, smiling back.

Reborn's grin also returned as the baby hitman turned and started to walk away.

He had a few other people to talk to before the day was over.

* * *

"I don't understand, everyone had been so eager to help out. They promised to be here right after school ended. So where is everybody?" Kusakabe said, growing more and more concerned as time went on. It had been fifteen minutes since the final bell for school ending, and yet not a single soul and shown up at the arranged meeting spot. "I can't believe they have gone back on there word."

"Don't think badly of them. I'm sure they all just suddenly remembered something very, very important they had to do elsewhere." Shirou said flatly.

He could sense the low grade bounded field, composed of the indigo flames, that had been erected around the place, preventing anyone who wasn't aware from entering the area. It made them forget what they were doing and feel that they were urgently needed elsewhere. Shirou had noticed it as soon as it had been brought up.

This must have been Reborn's doing, though Shirou couldn't imagine why. If he was trying to confirm if Shirou had potential, why did he wait until Shirou and Kusakabe were already in the area before activating the field?

No, he already knew that Shirou was able to resist the fields effects. Perhaps he was trying to determine if Shirou could identify the barrier. If he would move to another place, try to salvage the situation.

"What do we do? If we don't have our members by tonight, we won't be able to compete at all." Kusakabe said.

"Then we just won't compete." Shirou replied with a shrug.

"Hibari-sama isn't going to like that." Kusakabe reminded Shirou.

"He'll get over it." Shirou said, getting up from his chair and stretching, he honestly was not at all afraid of Hibari. The guy was scary for a kid, but couldn't compete with the shit Shirou had seen. "This was doomed to failure from the beginning anyways. He just asked for one too many miracles."

"You're not even going to try?" Kusakabe asked, his shoulders falling. He looked up at the senpai he so admired with the face of a child who was just told that there was no such thing as santa. Something kind of odd, considering his unusually mature facial features.

"There's nothing to try. We don't have a team, we can't compete. Maybe if we had a group, we could give it our best attempt but…" Shirou started to say when the door started to open.

"Please forgive me, Judaime! I was unable to be by your side during the day! I have shamed myself as your subordinate!" Gokudera said as he followed behind Natsumi, who was visibly distressed by his presence and trying to put distance between them without straight out running.

"Get away from her, you creep!" A girl with long wavy black hair said, ruffly shoving the boy's shoulder, though not to any effect. Shirou recognized the girl as being one of Kyoko's friends. He had seen her before when dealing with the girl's brother. Her name was… Hana. He was happy to see her and Kyoko with Natsumi, as well as standing up for her. "Even a blind person could see that she wants nothing to do with you!"

"What did you say?" Gokudera said, glaring at the young girl.

"I said, back off, brainless monkey." Hana responded.

"Why you…" Gokudera growled, reaching for his dynamite, causing Natsumi go give out a squeak of panic.

*ROWR!*

The stick of dynamite slipped out of Gokudera's hand and fell unlit to the floor. "Was… was that a tiger?" Gokudera said looking around in a manner similar to a frightened rabbit. His hands were shaking uncontrollably. Everyone around him looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Must be your imagination." Shirou said, getting the boy's attention. His smile might have been joking, but the eyes on Gokudera were hard.

"My, that was an impressive fighting spirit. You were able to direct it so that it only hit Gokudera-kun without anyone else having to feel it." Shirou's eyes shot to the side to see Reborn sitting on one of the desks with his mug of coffee. "Ciaossu." The Emiya inwardly swore. When had Reborn got there? He hadn't noticed his scent because of the bounded field.

That explains how these people got in. Reborn must have let them through.

Now Shirou just needed to figure out why.

"Hello, Shirou-senpai." Natsumi said with a sigh as she realized the situation that was about to develop had suddenly been dissolved. "We heard you were the new Kendo captain and the coming tournament, so we came to wish you luck."

Shirou smiled. "That's very kind of you all. But it seems that no one wants to join the team, so we don't have enough people to participate."

"What?" Kyoko said, seeming surprised.

"I'm afraid it's true. So far only Emiya-senpai and I have joined the team. In order to register, you need five participants and one substitute. Without at least four more members, we won't be able to go at all." Kusakabe explained to them. "Even though we spread the news that we were looking for people to join, no one has shown up."

"Oh no." Natsumi said.

"Guess no one wanted to be part of that sinking ship, huh." Gokudera said with a shrug as he struggled to regain control over his body's natural fight or flight instincts.

"What did you say, you jerk!?" The black haired girl shouted at the boy.

"He's not exactly wrong. A week really isn't enough time to prepare to compete at the national level. I can't blame them for not wanting to even try. Not with Hibari-san looming over us." Shirou said with a shake of the head.

"Natsumi and Gokudera. The two of you should temporarily join the Kendo team." Reborn said, shocking everyone in the room.

"W… Reborn, what are you saying!? I don't know anything about Kendo!" Natsumi panicked.

"Yeah, Reborn-san, why should we do anything to help these guys?" Gokudera demanded of the baby hitman.

"Stop whining." Reborn said, the chameleon on his hat suddenly transforming into a small green gun, which he pointed at Natsumi. The girl gave a squeal of panic and Shirou's body tensed up like a spring. He quickly began to reinforce his body, and prepared a trace to intercept the bullet if fired. No one else seemed to find the presence of the gun unusual. "The Emiya family has done a lot to help you in the past. As a boss, you cannot let your debts just slide, and as her subordinate, you are obligated to assist her in repaying her debts."

"Hey now brat, you can't just bully someone into joining like that if they don't feel comfortable with it." Hana said, glaring at the baby, who paid her no mind at all.

"Even if everyone here joined the team, it won't be easy. We are talking about the National Qualifiers. Only the top people from each school will show. No first year rookie teams there for the experience." Kusakabe pointed out, as he looked at the child with a bit of curiosity.

"No problem. The others are coming right now." Reborn said.

"Others?" Natsumi said, it clearly being the first time she had heard of any others.

As if on cue, the door opened and a tall boy with short black hair and a sharp face poked his head in. Seeing everyone inside, he gave a friendly grin. "Hey, I saw your fliers outside the batting cages. Are you still looking for recruits?"

"Yamamoto-san? What are you doing here?" Natsumi said, seeming to recognize the boy.

"What fliers?" Kusakabe said, completely puzzled.

"Oh, you guys are thinking of participating in this week long Kendo training camp thing too, huh?" Yamamoto said as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. "I've been trying to find new training methods to help me improve my baseball game, and thought that I might pick up a thing or two. Plus, my old man used to do Kendo and thought it might make him happy to know I'm picking it up."

"Yamamoto-san, I think someone gave you bad information." Natsumi said with a sigh, looking over at Reborn.

"Even though he is only a first year, Yamamoto Takeshi is considered to be the star of the school baseball team, before the baseball season even started. In both physical conditioning and reaction speed, he is one of the best in the school." Kusakabe informed Shirou.

"Is that so." Shirou said as he glanced over the boy. He was in good shape, but there was no battle presence what-so-ever. Guy was a sportsmen, not a fighter. Though his build was good for a swordsmen. Perhaps he had a talent for it, if his reflexes were as good as Kusakabe seemed to think.

But while he was considering the young man, another individual made himself known. One with absolutely no grasp of the word subtle.

"EXTREME!" Ryohei shouted as he pulled the door open as if trying to rip it off of its hinges. The guy was in his boxing shorts and had bandages wrapped around his hands. "Emiya-kun, EXTREMELY sign me up!"

"What the hell!?" Gokudera said, backpedaling away from the white haired body as he rushed into the room. Natsumi was equally shocked by his appearance, but she only became more shocked when she heard Kyoko's reaction.

"Onii-chan, why are you here?"

"Onii-chan!? That's Kyoko's Onii-chan!?" Natsumi said, looking from one to the other.

"They really are nothing at all alike, are they?" Hana commented with a knowing smile.

"Ah, Kyoko, I've come to help participate in the Kendo competition." Ryohei said, putting his hands on his hips and pushing out his chest.

"I didn't know what Onii-chan was interested in Kendo, I thought you only liked boxing." Kyoko said with a tilt of her head.

"It is for boxing that I am doing this!?" Ryohei said, clenching his fist. "For too long, the young athletes in Japan have been pursuing Kendo. That is why I will go to the National Competition and crush the dreams of all those who wish to go down the path of the sword. Then, once it is clear to them that they can no longer walk that path… I WILL RECRUIT THEM INTO MY BOXING CLUB!"

"Ryohei-san, you do realize they go to a different school, right?" Hana said with a tired sigh.

"That EXTREMELY doesn't matter!" Ryohei said with a shake of his head.

Shirou also rubbed his temple a bit. Strange motives aside, Ryohei was an interesting case. Sure he had no skills in Kendo, but his boxing techniques weren't that great either, and that he never stopped him. What he lacked in technique he had always made up for in pure strength, speed and endurance.

Ryohei had already awakened his mystic energy and constantly used it to perform a minor reinforcement on his entire body, boosting his physical attributes to an inhuman level. It wasn't too uncommon a sight to see the boy bench pressing five hundred pounds in the school gym, while everyone else watches in a mixture of amazement and terror.

Unfortunately, Kendo was a more rule heavy sport than boxing, so simply tanking and pushing through your opponents strikes was not an option. Still, with his speed and strength, he might be able to catch a lot of people off guard and get them off balance.

"There you have it. Five members and one substitute." Reborn said, looking up at Shirou with a grin.

Shirou glanced over at Natsumi and Gokudera. "I'm not going to force you and I don't want you to feel pressured. You don't have to do this."

Natsumi hesitated for a second before shaking herself. "I… I can't really be of any help, but if you just need someone to fill a spot… I'll join."

"...If Judaime says so. I'll join as well." Gokudera said with a nod of his head, though he didn't seem at all happy about it.

"I see." Shirou said with a small smile. "Well then, let's see if we can't make a miracle."

* * *

**Something that should be noted that people always get wrong. The three people who were supposed to be before Tsuna in line for becoming the next boss weren't actually the Ninth's kids.**

**They all have different family names, and in a flash back, Xanxus accuses them all of being 'branch family trash' unworthy of even being considered for the next boss position. The Ninth himself doesn't have any biological children of his own, and Xanxus is the only adoption.**

**They also were supposed to be fairly competent individuals, just not as strong as Xanxus. The reason they all died was because of Daemon killing them off because he didn't feel like they were militaristic enough to create the Vongola that he wanted.**


	4. Chapter 4

Yamamoto was on the defensive as Shirou kept up a steady stream of attacks, with the baseball player using larger swings to deflect the attacks, throwing them off center, when his footwork wouldn't allow him to avoid. But eventually, the young rookie got a glint in his eye, spotting an opening.

His next deflection wasn't one of the wider harai sweeps, but the shorter hari. Putting as much strength as the short move would allow into his sweep, he knocked Shirou's weapon out of the way and quickly moved for a thrust.

Shirou's sword returned to quickly, hooking Yamamoto's weapon and pulling it out of position. The boy winced as the bamboo weapon rattled against his helmet.

"That was good. You almost had me." Shirou said as the boy laughed.

"Almost? I barely moved your position with that last sweep." Yamamoto said, full of cheer as he rubbed the back of his headgear. "You baited me."

"...It's only been a few hours since you first picked up the sword and you can already tell that?" Shirou said, blinking in simply dumbfounded shock. "What kind of monster are you?"

Yamamoto only laughed in response.

Shirou wasn't joking. Yamamoto's rate of progression wasn't natural. In just a few hours, he had already surpassed the level of the former Kendo club members in terms of skill, though he still lacked experience and technique.

"HORAHORAHORAHORAHORAHORAHORAHORAHORA...!" "Gah!"

Yamamoto and Shirou turned their heads to see Kusakabe being knocked onto his ass by Ryohei's 'extreme' flurry of high speed basic thrusts.

"Come on! Put more heart into it! You'll never learn how to box properly in time at this rate!" Ryohei shouted, pointing his bamboo sword at Kusakabe.

"Sasagawa-senpai, we're supposed to be learning kendo." Kusakabe said miserably.

As expected, the finer details of swordsmanship were lost on a guy like Ryohei, who didn't believe in anything but a frontal assault. But rather than trying to fit a round peg into a square hole, Shirou just encouraged Ryohei to simply go on a full speed attack, showing him the best ways to hold and move his sword to achieve maximum results with the most basic of strategies. With the right grip and footwork, parrying becoming exceedingly difficult, and with the mindset of most Kendo users to avoid being stuck in a retreat, it will likely be surprisingly effective.

If caught unaware, it was unlikely that many middle school level opponents would be able to figure out a way to block the boy's unnatural speed and strength.

Between Shirou, Yamamoto and Ryohei, they could probably win a good deal of the competition. Though Ryohei's unusualness would quickly lose effectiveness at the higher levels, unless they played things right. So he would need to get everyone up to as high of a level as possible.

"Yamamoto-san, mind entertaining Ryohei while I work with Kusakabe-san?" Shirou asked.

"Leave it to me." Yamamoto said with a smile, getting up and moving to take Kusakabe's place in front of the train that was Ryohei. Meanwhile, Gokudera and Natsumi were working through the basic skills in the corner of the training room that Yamamoto's father provided for them, while the school was closed on the weekend.

"Make any progress?" Shirou asked the Prefect as the young man got to his feet.

"I'm not sure. It all happened so fast. Sasagawa-senpai is something else." Kusakabe said weakly, though he was raising his sword. "But I won't give up yet."

"Good. Come at me when you are ready." Shirou said, taking up the ready position.

Off to the side, Yamamoto Takeshi's father, Tsuyoshi stood with Reborn, watching the children train. "Your son is something else. I don't think I've seen anyone pick up the basics this fast before." Reborn said to the sushi chef.

"He is a chip off the old block, ain't he?" Tsuyoshi said with pride radiating from his stupid grin. "And this is without having even having harmonized with a Sky yet. Once the boy gets a Sky of his own, he's growth will be even greater."

"Speaking of which, what do you think of the girl?" Reborn asked the man.

"Hm… I honestly don't see it." Tsuyoshi admitted as he looked over at Natsumi, who was just starting to get the basic swings down.

"While you can't see it now, her flame is much stronger than normal." Reborn insisted.

"Oh, I believe you, I just can't see it." Tsuyoshi said. "She doesn't have any presence at all."

"...I know. It's strange." Reborn admitted.

"She's a gentle kid, and a little skittish." Tsuyoshi said, scratching his chin.

"She will grow to be a good boss. I promise that. So, what do you think?" Reborn asked the man.

"I'm not worried about her talents, but this is going to be up to Takeshi to decide. I will not choose a Sky for him. If it was meant to be, it was meant to be." Tsuyoshi said with a shake of the head. "But on the topic of talent, that boy is Emiya Kiritsugu's son, isn't he?"

"By adoption. Yes." Reborn said, his eyes moving to Shirou.

"Kid's not bad. He's teaching all five of them differently styles of fighting, focusing on their strengths, as well as getting an edge in the competition, since most people would assume that students of the same school would have the same style. Kiritsugu-kun trained him well." Tsuyoshi said with a nod of his head.

"Kiri didn't train him, no one did. Or he claims they didn't. The boy is entirely self-taught. A self-taught cook, a self-taught engineer, a self-taught swordsman, a self-taught archer. He is a man of many talents." Reborn said, a glint in his eye as he described the more mundane talents that Shirou held. The ones that he had already confirmed. "But he is a lot more talented than he lets on. Though he hasn't been doing a very good job of hiding it recently."

"What do you mean?" Tsuyoshi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Emiya-kun has been around Natsumi for most of his life, and has been bathed in her aura twice already. Whether he is aware of it or not, he has already started to become her Guardian. And whenever a Guardian perceives a threat to their Sky…"

"...They lose all reasoning and self-control." Tsuyoshi said knowingly.

"Whenever he thinks that Natsumi is threatened, either physically or emotionally, he shows far more skill than he would usually let people see. More skill than any normal person has." Reborn explained.

"...You mean this is nothing compared to what he is capable of?" Tsuyoshi asked, gesturing towards the scene in front of him. Reborn only smiled in response. "...Reborn, your making me excited."

"I'd like to get a better idea of what he is really capable of. Would you mind testing him a little?" Reborn asked the man.

Tsuyoshi only laughed. But even if he was laughing, his eyes were sharp. "Alright kids! Wrap it up! It's time for lunch!"

(((

"Thank you for the meal, and thanks again for allowing us to use your place for our practice." Shirou said, bowing his head to the sushi chef.

"Thank you very much." Natsumi said, following Shirou's example. The others also showed their thanks, except for Gokudera. Even Reborn gave a 'thanks for the food'.

They had been training for just a little more than two hours, and Natsumi already wanted the week to be over. She didn't have the same kind of stamina as the others and Reborn wouldn't let her skip out, even though she was only the substitute and wouldn't be required to compete. Something that made her worry.

It wasn't that it was bad. Shirou was still nice to her and was very patient when showing her the moves and talking her through the exercises. Gokudera and Ryohei, who insisted on being called Onii-san after finding out that Natsumi was Kyoko's friend, also gave their own encouragement and tried to help, even if they were impossible.

Ryohei was a little frightening in just how enthusiastic he was and his advice always boiled down to following your gut and pushing your limits. Though at least they were understandable. Gokudera's explanations were a steady stream of words that Natsumi had never heard before, mixed in with confusing math and numbers. After finding out that they were going to be part of the Kendo team, Gokudera stayed up all night memorizing books on Kendo rules and techniques so that he could better assist her. Problem was, Natsumi couldn't understand him at all. Gokudera also got upset every time Shirou would help her with something she didn't get.

Even so, if it had just been those three, Natsumi might have been more comfortable with it. Perhaps even a little happy to be included in something. She didn't even mind Kusakabe-san. But Yamamoto... made her feel uneasy.

It wasn't that the boy wasn't trying to act nice, in fact, that might have been the problem.

His constant cheer. His laughing off anything that was said. The way he seemed to be living in his own little world. It reminded her of her father, which made her uncomfortable. Even if he wasn't a useless layabout like her old man, there were just too many similarities.

Men who do nothing but smile and laugh, she just couldn't bring herself to trust such people. And his father was much the same. The older Yamamoto was always laughing, but she could feel that there was something off about him. Something not right about his laughter.

"You kids don't need to worry about it. Any friend of Takeshi's will always be welcome here." The man said with cheer. With that smile and laugh that Natsumi couldn't quite believe was real. "Besides, I'm not opposed to helping out a few kids who are looking into the art of Kendo. Did my boy tell you that I used to do some Kendo when I was a younger man?"

"Even if he didn't, the dojo style room in your house and your old equipment would still be a give away." Shirou pointed out, which the man found amusing.

"Well are you the observant one." The older Yamamoto chuckled. "Though I'll admit, its been a long time since I last picked up the sword, maybe watching a match between two experienced individuals would be help out. What do you say, Emiya-kun? Want to see if this old man still knows his stuff?"

"Oh, lucky!? I've never seen dad fight before. This is going to be good." Yamamoto said, practically shaking with excitement.

"An example of what two skilled athletes look like could be beneficial for us." Kusakabe mumbled his agreement.

"I'd like to see someone feed Mr. Tomato a slice of humble pie." Gokudera grumbled as he folded his arms.

"Sounds like an EXTREMELY good idea!" Ryohei agreed loudly.

Shirou glanced over at the other boys before sighing. "I suppose I have no choice. Hopefully you will go easy on me."

"In that case, I will be the ref. It will be a standard three point match. Good luck to you both." Reborn said with his usual smile.

...Why was it that all of this was making Natsumi so nervous.

(((

Reborn watched as Shirou and Tsuyoshi stood across from each other and exchanged the pre-match formalities, before each took up a stance.

Shirou adopted a form similar to the standard two hand style of Kendo, while Tsuyoshi's stance favoured his dominant hand.

Shigure Soen Ryu, a style dating back eight generations, with each master adding to the style's repertoire of moves. It was a style built around the use of Rain Flames and surpassed normal human limits. Even if he was only using a normal bamboo sword, Tsuyoshi might end up killing the boy if he let himself get carried away.

Reborn looked forward to seeing Shirou pushed to his limits.

"Start!"

No sooner had the word left Reborn's mouth than Tsuyoshi made his move. The thrust was beautifully performed, coming completely out of nowhere, with not even the slightest of signals to indicate what was about to happen. The move was so fast that a normal human eye wouldn't have even been able to follow it.

Tsuyoshi wasn't playing around. Then again, he never did when it came to swordsmanship.

Even so, Shirou managed to deflect the attack, using nothing more than what could be considered normal human strength. Not only did he catch it, he retaliated, moving into the older fighter's space and pressuring away his sword while making a slash for the man's sword arm.

But Tsuyoshi recovered quickly and returned full force.

While not yet making use of his Rain Flames, the old man still had strength that exceeded the norm and gained an advantage over Shirou through strength and speed, as well as an incredible display of skill that only a handful of people in the world could boast. Shirou was set on the defensive and lost ground. Little by little, holes were pried open in his defenses until, after two straight minutes of uninterrupted fighting, Tsuyoshi had his opening.

"Point. Yamamoto Tsuyoshi." Reborn said as the strike landed on Shirou's left shoulder hard enough to ground the boy.

"Shirou-senpai, are you alright?" Natsumi asked, Shirou who waved her down with a smile, assuring her that he was just fine, though he was panting lightly.

"I could hardly keep track of those moves." Kusakabe mumbled, rubbing his eyes, as he hadn't blinked since the round started.

"Mm, not bad at all! You should consider joining my Boxing Club!" Ryohei shouted.

"Wow, dad! That was incredible!" Takeshi said as he watched his father with wide eyes. However, Tsuyoshi wasn't happy. Not at all. He was glaring at Shirou with the hardest face they had ever seen on him. "...Dad?"

"I can't believe you. Do you have no pride as a swordsman at all?" Tsuyoshi demanded from Shirou who looked up at him with a look of confusion. Though even that look was fake.

"Sorry if... my performance failed to... impress you. I'd never seen anyone move as fast... as you before." Shirou said, seeming apologetic.

"Dad, why are you so angry?" Takeshi asked his father.

"He's angry because Shirou-kun isn't actually trying." Reborn said, surprising the group. "As a proud swordsman, he cannot stand to be taken lightly."

"Huh? Kid, what are you talking about? Emiya-senpai was just overwhelmed." Takeshi said.

"No." Tsuyoshi said with certainty. "I saw it in his eyes. He didn't get overwhelmed. He allowed himself to become overwhelmed."

"I told you. He refuses to show his real skill unless it counts." Reborn said with a chuckle. "So, lets see if we can't motivate him a little." He took a little pleasure in seeing the boy's eyes dart to Leon and his body tense, shifting in order to be prepared to move to protect Natsumi. However, Reborn's plans were something different, and pulled out a sheet of paper.

"That's a…!" Shirou gasped as he saw the document.

"We will start to do this little match in the Vongola Style. If Shirou-kun wins will be able to ask me a question, any question his heart desires, and I will answer it to the best of my abilities." Reborn said as he waved the Geass Contract, bearing a slight glow visible to only those who had their power awakened. A seal made from Reborn's own Sun Flames was stamped on the top.

If Reborn lost this bet, he would have to answer whatever question Shirou asked, lest his very soul be attacked from the effects of breaking the Geass. The types of Geass Contracts that the Mafia knew how to make came in two types, Vows of Silence and Vows of Payment. The fact that such things even existed was one of the most closely guarded secrets in the underworld. But by the looks of it, Shirou was well aware of what it was just by looking at it.

What he probably didn't know was that Reborn was so powerful that the Geass's attack against his soul would have been easily ignored by Reborn, barely even a minor inconvenience. Supposedly, in the olden days, a Geass Contract was strong enough to kill even greater beings if they dared to break them, but they just didn't have the means or knowledge to make them as strong as they used to. Even a normal human would be little more than emotionally crippled by breaking the contract, and Reborn was no ordinary person.

Reborn would go along with the contract if he lost, but if Shirou try to force information that was best left unspoken, he would still shut his mouth tight and deal with the obnoxious feeling of the seal trying and failing to clasp down on his soul.

Reborn smiled as Shirou revealed again how familiar he was with the unusual. "So what do you say, Shirou-kun? Want to give it the old college try?" Reborn teased the boy.

Shirou's eyes went from the contract to Tsuyoshi. "I suppose I could try to push a little harder." Shirou said, returning to a much looser stance than before, though with his sword still at the ready.

"You had better." The older Yamamoto said as he returned to the fight.

"Start." Reborn said, giving them the signal.

At first, it seemed like the same thing as last time, with Tsuyoshi's strength and speed being superior to Shirou's. Only rather than Tsuyoshi overwhelming the boy, he was finding himself being kept off balance and even pushed back by the boy.

Tsuyoshi's frustration from before faded away into rolling laughter as he tried everything he could to find a way around the boy's unusual movements. Every time the master swordsman made a move, Shirou would already be there waiting, deflecting attacks before they even had a chance to get started, and attacking opening with had yet to even occur. It was unbelievable.

The only thing that kept Tsuyoshi from taking a blow was his reflexes and speed. The man was even slowly tapping into his flame reserves in order to push himself to be a little faster in order to dodge some traps that couldn't be avoided with mere human strength.

His every attack, defense, and block were all beautifully exicuted. Even their flaws were calculated in order to best distract the older fighter, rather than grant actual opportunity. He was treating Tsuyoshi Yamamoto like a joke. And while the man wasn't at his prime, or using his full strength or the more deadly skills within his arsonal, he was still an individual who could be counted among the world's most elite swordsmen.

A fumble. Shirou's strike lacked reach and placed his sword in a position where Yamamoto could deflect it out to the side and counter, forcing Shirou to retreat two paces to regain his footing.

Yamamoto's footing was solid, his sword was down at his side from his last swing, the distance between the two of them was perfect.

"Shigure Soen Ryu: Fifth Offensive Stance: Samidare."

*Crack!*

"Point. Emiya Shirou." Reborn called out as Tsuyoshi's weapon clattered against the ground, Shirou's sword resting on the top of the man's left shoulder.

The fifth offensive stance of Shigure Soen Ryu was a feint. The user swing there sword upwards with one hand in a high slash, but before the attack follows through, they let the sword pass through their fingers to be grabbed by their back hand, allowing them to show a powerful attack aimed for the upper body, only to attack their opponent's middle.

It was a clever attack, one that gave no time for the opponent to react in time to defend.

But rather than defending, Shirou had attacked. The moment Tsuyoshi had started to commit to his attack, Shirou's defensive stance and struck out an attack, and caught in the moment, Tsuyoshi had been trapped.

Tsuyoshi was left dumbstruck for a few moments before he broke into laughter. "Kid, I… You… Hahaha!" Tsuyoshi laughed long and hard, unable to think of what to say. No one knew what to say, save for Ryohei who kept demanding that the both of them join his boxing club.

No one had ever seen through Tsuyoshi's technique the first time before, and only a handful had been able to escape death. Yet Emiya Shirou, a thirteen year old boy had managed to counter it with ease. No, it was more than that. He had baited Tsuyoshi into using an attack he had never even seen before.

Shirou didn't say anything. He was using the time to regain his breath.

He was panting hard, and he was sweating hard. The struggle of keeping up with Tsuyoshi using only normal human strength.

"Whenever you are ready, we can start the next round." Reborn informed the fighters.

"Oh, I'm ready." Tsuyoshi said, still all grins, though his eyes had a fire to them. Reborn could feel the man's Rain Flames bubbling beneath the surface.

"Control yourself, Yamamoto-san. This is a training match." Reborn reminded the man.

"I know. I know… but, I can't bring shame to the invincible style, can I?" The man insisted. The flames weren't dying down.

"Go too far, and I will shoot you." Reborn warned, though the threat fell on deaf ears. Both Shirou and Tsuyoshi collected themselves, and Reborn gave the signal. "Start."

It started out the same as before, but as the match continued, as Tsuyoshi's fighting spirit grew, things started to take a turn for the worse. Tsuyoshi's strength increased from just beyond the human peak, to a little further still, and then still further.

"You call this controlling yourself?" Reborn said, clearly annoyed, though even more astonished. Even with the ever increasing differences in physical capabilities, Shirou still managed to hold on. Blocking was discarded as an idea, but the quality of the parries allowed him to redirect attacks far too heavy for him to block. Tsuyoshi's physical strength was already more than triple the boy's.

How? He was at the same level of combat skills as someone like Lil Mirch. Reborn half wondered if he was an illusionist, but he could sense no sign of the Mist Flames interfering with his perception. His abilities were unreal.

"What is… that blue light?" Natsumi mumbled as the fight continued.

"Blue light? Are you seeing things?" Takeshi asked her without turning his head away from the fight. Gokudera and the prefect boy couldn't see it either, but Ryohei could.

"The sushi man's fighting spirit. It's growing to be so extreme." Ryohei said, seeing the same blue aura surrounding Tsuyoshi as the man's desire to win grew stronger and stronger. "Grrr! Shirou! Fight on!"

"This is getting out of hand." Reborn mumbled to himself, wondering if he could intervene. The strength of Tsuyoshi's strike was already strong enough to break bones. Then the Rain Flames started to coil around the man's wooden sword. "Stop it, Yamamoto!" Reborn said forcefully, but the man ignored him.

The children gave out cries of panic as Tsuyoshi swung his sword, forcing Shirou to jump back, only for the floor to splinter, columns of Rain Flames coming up from the point his weapon touched the ground. The pressure from it pushed Shirou even further back, creating distance between the two.

"Shigure Soen Ryu: Eighth Offensive Stance: Shinotsuku Ame."

Reborn drew Leon as Tsuyoshi quickly closed the distance between him and Shirou, performing a wide sweeping attack, his Rain Flames sweeping outwards to create a cross slash that would cut all around him and extend past the edge of his blade. But before Reborn needed to shoot, Shirou dropped to the ground, causing the attack to pass right over him.

The boy reached out with his legs, grabbing onto Tsuyoshi's feet and tripping him. But rather than falling sprawled out on the ground, the man performed a one handed vault, flipping himself up into the air. His feet touched the ceiling and Tsuyoshi pushed off, launching himself down onto the young man below with sword thrust forward.

*BANG!*

Both Shirou and Tsuyoshi's wooden sword were blown into splinters as they were hit by a shaft of golden light. Tsuyoshi blinked in surprise as he stared at his broken weapon before turning his head to see a very unhappy Reborn. "I said, STOP."

"S...sorry." Tsuyoshi said awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I let myself get carried away."

That idiot. Those had been attacks meant to kill. Bruise, burns, broken bones, all of these things could be healed and learned from, but you didn't heal or learn from being made a corpse.

Even if the boy might have been able to parry that last blow, Reborn wouldn't risk it. What would he have told Kiri and Iris if Tsuyoshi had killed the boy?

"Because of the use of unnecessary force, I award Emiya Shirou a half point penalty. Because of the use of one's legs to attack the opponent, I award Yamamoto Tsuyoshi a half point penalty." Reborn said into the stunned silence as he put his gun away. "This match is over. The final score is one and a half points a piece. It is a tie. But I will keep my word. One question Shirou-kun. Be prepared to ask it tomorrow." Shirou was still sprawled out on the ground, and in little condition to be doing anything. "I think we should all call it a day."

* * *

Yamamoto Takeshi was in a daze.

His father was strong. Crazy strong. A lot stronger than he was.

Why? Why hadn't his dad ever shown him? What was it that he wasn't being told?

Takeshi thought about these things, until he realized something; he didn't actually care why. He just wanted to be like him. To become as strong as his dad. Even after everyone else left for the day, Takeshi continued to push himself. He would push himself as hard as he needed to.

He would become as strong as his dad.

* * *

**Shirou wants to keep his capabilities hidden from Reborn, but the lure of information was too tempting for him to resist. Especially when it was enforced by a Geass, meaning that Shirou could literally ask Reborn what Reborn's weaknesses were, and he would have to tell, or receive a hit to his soul, weakening him for their battle.**

**Things that are basically Geass Contracts do exist in the KHR world. It is shown that Futa had one done on him. Something that would probably piss Shirou off. Someone putting something like that on a nine year old.**

* * *

**The seal that was placed on Tsuna actually doesn't come up in the Manga. It is only in the anime.**

**Though the ninth still did order the assassination of Gokudera, a thirteen year old boy, if Gokudera could be tempted to leave Tsuna for a promotion he already turned down by making him believe that it was all for Tsuna's sake.**

**So yeah, guy still evil as fuck.**

**That isn't even considering the fact that he, an ITALIAN, froze his own son (adopted or otherwise) alive.**

**Dante's Inferno, the ninth circle of hell, the punishment for the worst of the worst, is to be frozen alive. To do that to your kid is some dark shit. Just killing them would have been a kindness.**

**It's pretty obvious he just tells Tsuna whatever he needs to in order to get the boy to do what he wants. He probably doesn't believe in any of that stuff about fixing Vongola for the better. He just knows it is the only way to get the fourteen year old boy with a love for the simple life to even consider the mafia.**


	5. Chapter 5

Reborn was a crafty bastard.

In the moments before Shirou could deflect Tsuyoshi's final attack and scored his decisive blow, Reborn interfered with the fight, and used his position as ref to declare it a draw, robbing Shirou of his victory and escaping the effects of the Geass.

Even if he claimed that he would still make good on his promise for information, he was no longer forced to be honest. Nor could Shirou use it as a weapon against the fake baby, asking him a question right before attacking, requiring him to answer properly while under pressure, lest he receive the recoil from the Geass, crippling him mid fight.

'What would it take to get Natsumi out of this?' would have been a top contender for questions Shirou would try to ask. Though considering the answer would almost certainly require the removal of Reborn as an obstacle, asking that would be putting the cart before the horse.

Shirou could have also asked about the lizard.

What was it? What was it capable of? What were its limitations and weaknesses? Looking at the thing gave him a headache, as it was a weapon, but at the same time, it wasn't. Its existence was a paradox of some kind, rending Shirou's ability to judge weapons and their histories useless. He could tell that the thing was somehow both a weapon and not a weapon, but that was the extent of it. But Reborn would never reveal the truth about his personal weapon now. It would be as ridiculous as a Servant just shouting out his real name at the start of the Grail War.

He should have seen this coming the moment Reborn made the offer. No one in their right mind would have offered up a Geass like that, not unless they knew they could get out of it. Though as traps go, it was definitely something else.

Shirou had fallen for it hook, line and sinker. Not only had he displayed his knowledge about magecraft by recognizing the old latin script for what it was, he had shown his desperation for it. He had also displayed a good deal of his swordsmanship skills in the pursuit of obtaining that question. He had managed to keep his traces, his reinforcement magecraft and his admittedly limited abilities with the mysterious flames hidden, but doing so had made the fight exceedingly difficult, and perhaps a little dangerous. While not on the level of a Servant in terms of either skill or strength, Yamamoto Tsuyoshi was not a man to be taken lightly.

That crazy bastard didn't know the meaning of the word restraint.

All that disclosed information, and the risk, and Shirou had absolutely nothing to show for it the next morning, save for his slightly sore muscles from attempting to fight the man with normal human strength. He should have just used his reinforcement magecraft, and ended the fight quickly.

Perhaps if he was lucky, Reborn would actually believe that was the limit of his physical abilities, and that Shirou was therefore no threat at all. He claimed himself to be the world's strongest, so maybe he was so egocentric as to believe that Shirou would never be a real threat to him. Though Shirou wouldn't hold his breath.

That morning, Shirou got up early and performed his normal morning exercises before heading downstairs to prepare breakfast, as well as everyone's bentos, same as he did every morning. It took a while longer for the rest of the household to walk up and find their way to the dining room table.

"Good morning Shirou." Irisviel said cheerfully as she took her seat next to her husband. Her and Kiritsugu had arrived home late the previous night, while everyone was already asleep.

"Good morning mom. How was your trip?" Shirou asked her as he handed her a plate of eggs and ham.

"Let's just say that I'm glad its over and that we are back with my favorite people in the whole wide world." Irisviel said cheerfully, pulling Illya into a one armed hug. "So, how have things been? I hear there has been some excitement around town."

"I suppose some things have happened." Shirou admitted, more to himself than her. He still felt guilty about overlooking Natsumi's problems at school for so long, and while he had taken great steps towards making things better, bullying was still a serious issue.

As it turns out, Middle Schoolers were assholes. He vaguely remembered that being that case when he was in middle school last time around, but he had been so obsessed with learning whatever magecraft he could and preparing to be a superhero that he didn't really pay much attention to it.

Luckily, with half the Disciplinary Committee accepting Shirou as the unofficial second-in-command, since he was the only one who could talk easy around Hibari without fear, Shirou had made it so that anyone they caught harassing the girl at school was swiftly dealt with. Hopefully the kids will start to connect the dots and leave her alone.

That couldn't help with people like Reborn and Gokudera, who were outside of the norm, but normal bullies, and even teachers, won't going to try to take on the Disciplinary Committee.

"Though I'd say the biggest surprise around here is that Leysritt-nee and Sella-nee suddenly decided that teaching was their true calling in life." Shirou said giving the two women a cheeky smile.

"Just keep grinning, Shirou. We're there to make sure that there isn't any more funny business." Leysritt said, shaking a fork in his direction.

Shirou had brought the recording of what had happened to Natsumi to Leysritt and Sella, in order to create a legal record of what happened so that they could threaten lawsuits against the school for permitting such a thing to occur. After seeing it, and helping to remove Natsumi's teachers, the two of them decided to take up positions as teachers at the school.

It had been surprising at first, but considering the two viewed themselves as the older sisters of the group, they were probably just being overprotective. Though they said it was because they wanted a vacation after the case they had been finishing up right before everything happened.

Either way, Shirou was glad. The two of them weren't exactly normal themselves and were both willing and able to keep Gokudera in line.

"It's not all that surprising. They really enjoyed homeschooling you, back before you and Illya started to go to elementary school." Irisviel said, still all smiles. "I remember how much they cried about it when the two of you left for your first day."

"I think you are misremembering. You were the one blubbering about how you didn't want them to go." Sella said, though she had a small blush on her face.

Shirou couldn't help but to smile at the memory. At first, because Shirou had been so withdrawn, Leysritt and Sella had homeschooled him while he recovered from his trauma and confusion. But after finding that he could do far more than was expected of a child, they just kept him out of school until it was time for Illya to start. All four Emiya family adults had been so uncomfortable about it that they stalked the school for a week.

He supposed that shaming them for it would have been hypocritical.

He had spent a good deal of time sneaking away from his class to check in on Illya as well.

The conversation at the breakfast table continued until they reached the subject of the Kendo competition later that week. "Can we go? I want to cheer Onii-chan on." Illya asked her mother and father.

"Hm, it is going to be on a school day, but I suppose we can let you skip to go and watch." Irisviel said with a smile, prompting a celebration from Illya, followed by a round of teasing.

Shortly after, Shirou and Illya started to walk towards the elementary school together, while Leysritt and Sella drove off to work to prepare for classes.

And Kiritsugu and Irisviel prepared for their guest.

* * *

Natsumi didn't really have the best of nights.

Her body was still aching after the morning training session, since she wasn't used to long exercises like the boys had been.

After Natsumi returned home from practice all covered in sweat, her mother expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Natsumi had joined the Kendo Club, saying that it wasn't right for a girl like her to be taking up such boyish hobbies. She had continued to shame Natsumi about it until Reborn intervened, pointing out how many 'single boys' there were in the club that were taking an interest in Natsumi.

She really wished that Reborn had just kept his stupid mouth shut, as the pestering about not being in the Home Ec Club gave way to questions about the different boys that were in the Kendo Club.

As if it wasn't bad enough that her mother seemed to have the completely wrong idea about Gokudera, saying things that brought blushes to the boy's face and made Natsumi want to die. It wasn't the kind of thing that she wanted to deal with while dead tired.

The only thing she had to be glad about was that Reborn took pity on her and helped her with her homework, as well as preparing for the quiz in her history class.

As it turned out, Reborn was actually a really, really good tutor whenever he felt like tutoring, instead of just causing trouble.

Natsumi couldn't remember any of her previous teachers explaining things to her in such an understandable manner, even with how tired and distracted she was.

If only he really was just a home tutor, instead of involving her in all this weird stuff.

Natsumi couldn't help but to sigh as she thought over everything that had happened in the last week.

"Are you alright, Judaime?" Gokudera asked, causing her to jump. He had been following behind her as soon as she left her house, but she had been so tired that she hadn't noticed him.

"I'm fine. I just didn't sleep too well." Natsumi admitted before she got a good look at the boy and saw he also had bags under his eyes. "Are you… doing okay? You look pretty tired yourself."

"Ah, well. After yesterday, I went back to the library to study more about Kendo. I might have lost track of time." Gokudera admitted weakly as he rubbed the back of his head. "I couldn't find anything that would let me compete with those two sword freaks. Not even past Olympic Champions could compare."

Natsumi just nodded her head in understanding.

Honestly, the day before had been breathtaking. The displays of skill and strength had driven home facts that Natsumi had been avoiding, making her ask questions that she wasn't even sure she wanted the answer to.

It wasn't just Shirou and Mr. Yamamoto who weren't normal. Ryohei also displayed physical strength that was unbelievable. Then there was Reborn, a baby that could casually jump seven feet into the air, throw people with no visible effort at all, and had a shapeshifting lizard that could shoot magical bullets. Even weak little Natsumi herself had displayed strength and speed that couldn't be considered human while under the influence of the Dying Will Bullets. After shot, she had run faster than cars, jumped over the school walls and snapped a bamboo sword with a single squeeze of her hand.

Even if the others couldn't see it, Natsumi had seen the blue flames wrapping themselves around Mr. Yamamoto's practice sword before the man started to tear his own house apart. She knew, just knew that those were Dying Will Flames. Meaning that more people that just Reborn were capable of causing such things.

How? How was any of this even possible? Was the mafia really like this?

Natsumi had asked Reborn about it, and his response had frightened her.

'Tsuyoshi-san's strength isn't that special. If you want to become the next boss of the Vongola Famiglia, you will have to be a lot stronger than that.' Reborn said before giving her a smile. 'But don't worry, I'll make sure you are ready in time. That's why I'm your home tutor.'

After hearing that, Natsumi couldn't sleep. She kept imagining herself being attacked by people like Mr. Yamamoto while Reborn shouted at her to stand her ground and fight.

She was scared. She was so scared that she couldn't sleep. She could hardly eat.

She didn't want to be the next boss. She didn't want to have anything to do with the mafia. She didn't want to die.

"Natsumi-chan?" Natsumi looked up to see Irisviel standing outside her fence a gentle expression on her face.

"Aunt Iris." Again, she had been so wrapped up in everything that she didn't notice the things going on around her. She also hadn't noticed how she was shaking.

"Come here." Irisviel said as she walked over to the girl with open arms and pulled her into a warm hug. Natsumi blushed as the older woman brushed her fingers through Natsumi's hair. Her touch was so warm and so soft that Natsumi felt as though her stress was melting away. "I know everything seems scary, but remember that you aren't alone. The girls, Shirou-kun, Kiri and I, we will always be here for you."

After a moment of surprise, Natsumi returned the hug, burying her head in Irisviel's stomach. "Thank you, Aunt Iris." Irisviel might not have understood what was going on, but her words did make Natsumi feel a lot better.

"Any time." Irisviel said with a cheerful smile. "Now, you two had better hurry and get to school."

"Alright. See you later." Natsumi said before starting to jog away, her body no longer feeling as sore as it had just moments before, with Gokudera following after her.

Irisviel waved to the girl as she left, until she was out of ear shot. "The poor thing. Everything that's happened is throwing her entire world into question."

"You know that there is still more hidden than has been shown." Reborn stated from his perch on the segment of wall that divided the backyards. "It was probably too soon for her to see Tsuyashi fighting, but the sooner she discards her notion of normalcy, the sooner she can start to grow and the safer she will be. She has to accept that the Dying Will Flames are a part of who she is, instead of just a consequence of my bullets."

"Yes, I know." Irisviel said, though her voice was full of regret. She then turned to Reborn with a bright smile. "How rude of me, making you wait outside. Please, come in. We still have some tea if you would like some."

"Right. I forgot you weren't big coffee drinkers." Reborn said with mock disappointment. "Fine, I will settle for tea."

* * *

"...Are you trying to make me give up coffee? Because it won't work." Reborn said accusatorial as he sipped the warm tea.

"I'd love to take credit for it, but it's actually one of Shirou's brews." Irisviel admitted as she placed out a batch of cookies and they all sat down around the table.

"Cooking is another one of his hobbies. He's so territorial about the kitchen that it is rare that anyone else cooks anymore." Kiritsugu said as he took his own cup.

"If I recall correctly, you never knew how to cook." Reborn said cheekily before taking another sip of his tea. "What a refreshing energy. I can't help but wonder what it is."

Reborn looked at Kiritsugu to see his unamused face at the half joke. Sure enough, a faint energy was present in the drink. One that Reborn couldn't quite identify.

"Are you going to tell me about the boy?" Reborn asked after a moment of silence between them.

"There is nothing to talk about. Shirou has nothing to do with our world." Kiritsugu said flatly.

"Don't give me that. I know that you two aren't blind, and it isn't just the energy he puts in his tea leaves." Reborn said. "Unless you are telling me that you are responsible for the unusual flameproof uniforms that he gave to Natsumi. The ones that don't bear any resemblance to any known pattern in our records. Or how about how he was able to fight a half strength Tsuyoshi-san one-on-one without even being flame-active. The boy isn't a normal civilian. He has knowledge and skills that go beyond that. Even Squalo wasn't this talented with a sword, and he killed the previous Sword Emperor when he was Shirou's age."

Reborn pressed Kiritsugu, though the man's face remained as unreadable as Reborn's own.

"...Do you remember our agreement with the Vongola Alliance?" Kiritsugu asked simply.

"...In exchange for a promise of asylum, and to not try to pursue any of the knowledge that you gained from the Einzbern Famiglia or the power of your bloodline, you would agree to take on four commissions a year for the Alliance. You also agreed not to take any commissions against anyone from the Alliance without the Ninth's say so." Reborn recited. It had been Natsumi's grandfather, the former head of the CEDEF, that had acted as the liaison between Kiritsugu and the Ninth during the writing of the treaty, with the unwritten claus being that Kiritsugu and his family would live next door to his son's family and protect his granddaughter from harm. "However, I don't think those rules apply here, as Shirou-kun's knowledge is unrelated to the Einzbern Famiglia, and he isn't of your blood."

Kiritsugu didn't even blink as he stared down at Reborn, who looked back at him with equally unblinking eyes. "Reborn-san, I have the utmost respect for you and what you have sacrificed. However, Shirou is our son, and I will not allow anyone to try to take advantage of our children. Not even you." Kiritsugu said coldly.

Reborn couldn't help but smile.

He had to respect anyone who had the balls necessary to openly declare an ultimatum to his face like that, knowing full well who and what he was. Even among his fellow Arcobaleno, few had the courage to REALLY stand up to Reborn face to face. As much as Colonnello liked to claim to be Reborn's rival, if told to challenge Reborn to a real fight, he would definitely try to worm his way out of it. He knew the gap that existed between the two of them.

The only way they would ever meet on the battlefield was at the maximum range of the largest sniper rifle Colonnello could get his hands on, and the guy will still make for the hills the moment Reborn dodged the first shot.

Whenever Reborn said 'My patience is running out', even the Ninth and his Guardians would pale and scrabble to fulfill his childish whims. Entire Famiglias would bow and scrape to him, licking the dirt from his boots, not out of the admiration that they were all trained to fake, but out of fear of what would happen should Reborn not be amused by their performance.

That was why he demanded that they build an entire section in Mafialand dedicated to his image. It made him feel warm and fuzzy inside, knowing that every night, when Colonnello looked out his bedroom window, he would have to see a giant farcies wheel with Reborn's face on it.

Kiritsugu was strong, but he wasn't Reborn strong, and he knew it. The techniques that made him a fearsome opponent wouldn't do much good against Reborn's overwhelming amount of Sun Flames. But the man would have made good on his word and laid down his life for the slim chance of protecting his children, even if it meant fighting not only Reborn, but the entire Vongola Alliance by himself.

After all, this was the man who had fought and killed the Einzbern Famiglia's Immortal Don and his three of his seven Servants in order to protect his pregnant wife. A fight even Reborn wouldn't have picked casually.

He wouldn't have survived the conflict, it is wasn't for the fact that his attack had revealed to the mafia world that some high ranking members of the Einzbern Famiglia had broken 'the Law' by binding their souls and flames to inanimate objects in order to live past their natural lifespan, bringing down the wrath of the Vindice upon them and giving Sella and Leysritt enough time to get him and Irisviel to safety while the remnants of the Famiglia were being hunted down by the Vindice.

Kiritsugu was a man with more than enough balls to try to stare down even a legendary individual like Reborn.

However, the tense moment took a hit when his beautiful wife let out a squeal of delight and throw her arms around her husband. "Oh Kiri, you're so cool when you talk like that!" Irisviel cheered, somewhat ruining the moment.

Reborn chuckled and shook his head. "I haven't reported anything about your son and I don't plan to. But I don't know how long people will remain unaware. The boy isn't the kind to just stand aside and watch as things happen. In that way, he's a lot like his father." Reborn said, taking another sip of his tea. "But you didn't call me here to talk about Shirou, so I'm guessing it's your daughter that has you concerned." Reborn's words were delivered slowly, as he knew this was a sensitive subject. The parents slowly nodded their heads.

"I noticed it last night, when I checked on her in her bed." Irisviel admitted.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later." Reborn replied with a sigh.

"Yes. We know." Irisviel said sadly. "I was just hoping she would have a little more time to be a normal little girl."

Reborn nodded his understanding and waited for a moment before asking the question. "So. How do you want to break it to her?"

* * *

After her school was over, Illya went straight over to the middle school.

She felt a little bad about it, since her mama and papa had just gotten home from their trip, but she really wanted to watch her Onii-chan. She had gone to all his archery competitions in the past and always found it amazing how he could get a bullseye each and every time without fail.

He displayed the same level of grace in Kendo. Illya didn't know much about sword fighting, but none of the others could ever land a point on Shirou, so he must have been doing really well. Illya would have been happy to just sit there and watch them practice… if it wasn't for the other girls who had also come to watch.

Stupid Onii-chan. She hadn't realized that he was so popular with the ladies. What had to be a good ten percent of the girls in his school must have showed up to watch their practice and drool over the 'untouchable prince'. It wasn't just weird, it was creepy.

Not that her brother was the only one they were there to see. It seemed that all of the boys on the team had some kind of following.

At first, Illya tried to ignore them, but then they started saying things, such as how her Onii-chan and some other guy named Gokudera were a 'cute couple'.

No! Her Onii-chan was not into boy love!

A strong shiver that had nothing to do with her revolution at the idea that her brother was into boys racked Illya's body. "Stupid skirt." The girl muttered as she rubbed her leg, trying to restore its warmth.

It had been going on for a few days now. Even though they were starting to get into early Summer, Illya would every once and a while feel suddenly cold. It didn't seem to matter how hot it was, or what she was doing, she would just get the chills.

If anything, it happened more often when she was running around outside for PE. Everyone else would be covered in sweat and complain about the unbearable heat, while Illya would start to be getting numb from the cold.

She kept quiet about it. With her mama and papa out of town and Sella and Leysritt so busy, she didn't want to cause a fuss. Besides, she liked school, and she liked walking to school with her Onii-chan. But now, with her parents home, she should probably talk to them about it.

It was another reason she wanted to watch her Onii-chan today. She didn't know if they would still let her go and watch him compete at the end of the week.

"HORAHORAHORAHORA...!" The boy with hair as white as Illya's shouted as he swung his weapon at Shirou, the wooden sword seemed to blur from the boy's absurd speed. But Shirou remained calm, backing away and moving to the sides in order to remain just out of reach before swinging his own sword just a single time in a wide, one handed arc.

The white haired boy's dodge wasn't as elegant or controlled as Shirou's as he half jumped to the side in a lurching motion, but even with how uncontrolled the maneuver had looked, he still managed to land on his feet. Without even taking time to correct himself, he rushed forward again at full speed.

"Way to go Onii-chan, you actually dodged that one." The girl sitting next to Illya laughed, giving an applause.

"Onii-chan?" Illya said, getting a closer look at the girl.

She looked younger than Illya's Onii-chan, and had lighter brown hair and brown eyes. Hearing Illya, she turned her head and smiled a very genuine smile. "That's right. The one who yells a lot is my Onii-chan."

"Really?" Illya asked, a little surprised. Their hair color, skin color, facial structure, and just about everything else was different. Then, realizing it might have sounded rude, she immediately tried to apologize. "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean anything by it!"

"I suppose we don't look that much alike, do we?" The girl admitted with a chuckle.

"That alright. My Onii-chan and I look different too. But family isn't about what you look like." Illya said before standing up and giving a little curtsy. "I haven't introduced myself. I'm Emiya Illyasviel, but everyone just calls me Illya. It's nice to meet you."

Her mother had taught her to always give a proper introduction when meeting new people. She couldn't forget her manners. Not in front of a fellow little sister archetype.

"Oh, how cute." The girl giggled before giving her own introduction. "It's nice to meet you too. I'm Sasagawa Kyoko, but you can just call me my given name if you like."

"Wait, Emiya? So you're Emiya-senpai's little sister?" The dark haired girl next to Kyoko said, butting in all of the sudden.

"That's right. Shirou is my Onii-chan." Illya confirmed with a little pride.

"Hah, really? I thought you might have been Leysritt-sensei and Sella-sensei's little sister. You all have the same beautiful hair and eyes." Kyoko said, surprised, but still very friendly.

"Leysritt-nee and Sella-nee are our mother's cousins, but we all live together, so they are kind of like our older sisters." Illya explained, blushing a little about the 'beautiful' comment.

"Is that right? Hana-chan and I are both in their classes. I think they are really nice." Kyoko said.

"I think most people would use the word 'frightening' instead of nice." Hana said with a sigh, before muttering under her breath too quietly for Illya to hear. "I can't believe he has a bratty little sister."

"Hana, be nice." Kyoko said, giving the girl a teasing shove, but her eyes returned to the center of the gym as her brother rushed Shirou yet again, only to have Shirou slam down on his extended weapon, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

Ryohei was completely fine, but as he turned around, he found Shirou pointed his practice sword at him. "You're improving, but you need to focus on your footwork. If you swinging faster than your lower body can keep up, you will end up losing your balance."

"Understood! I need to move my lower body extremely fast when I am thrusting into my opponent!" Ryohei shouted as he returned to his feet.

"...Could you maybe think of wording that a little differently?" Shirou said with an awkward smile before shaking his head. "Gokudera-san, it's your turn with Ryohei!"

"Grr… Fuck off! Can't you see I'm trying to help Judaime! I don't have time to deal with that loud mouthed Turf Head!" The silver haired boy who was working with Natsumi shouted back at Shirou.

Judaime? Why was he calling Natsumi that?

"What was that Octopus Head!? You want to fight!?" Ryohei retaliated to the insult.

"I said I was to busy to fight you stupid! Keep goofing off with the Tomato if you want, and let the rest of us focus on actual training!"

"So you do want to fight!"

"What the hell are you doing you damn muscle head!"

Whether Gokudera wanted to or not, he was soon being attacked by Ryohei and was forced to retreat and make his best attempt at defending himself.

"Those two really don't get along, do they?" Illya asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.

"My Onii-chan is a little too embracive for some people." Kyoko giggled.

"I hope he gives that stupid stalker a concussion." Hana scoffed.

"A stalker!?" Illya squealed, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, the creepo has some kind of weird obsession with Natsumi-chan, the girl over there with your brother." Hana said, pointing at Natsumi, not realizing that Illya knew who she was. "The first day he showed up at school, he randomly assaulted her for no reason. Then the day after that, he was kissing the ground where she walked, calling her 'Judaime' and 'Boss', no matter how much she cringed and backed away from him. Sickos like him should be shot dead."

"I think he just feels bad about how he acted and wants to make it up to her." Kyoko suggested, though Illya didn't hear her. She was too busy sticking her hand into her school bag to make sure that she still had that pepper spray her papa gave her to protect herself from bad guys.

Sure enough, it was in there, right next to her miniature first aid kit.

She wondered why Natsumi hadn't used her own pepper spray on the boy, if he really was a stalker. Her parents did give her one, right? Hmm, maybe not. Illya was always shocked as to just how irresponsible Natsumi's parents could be.

Illya remembered when she was just five years old, and Natsumi's father had tried to get her drunk off saki so that she would stop crying about him breaking her toy. Illya's mama and papa had been very VERY unhappy with him.

At the time, Illya hadn't really understood what he did that was so bad, but now she knew just how bad alcohol was for children.

Well, Illya would just have to give Natsumi her pepper spray and get another one from her father later.

But while Ryohei was giving it his all to give Gokudera that concussion, Shirou went over and started to instruct Natsumi. He was taking things slowly, explaining to her what he was going to do and how she was supposed to react.

"I can't believe that freak has the nerve to waste Emiya-san's time like that." "I know, right. She totally doesn't deserve his time." "That loser should just go back to the dump she crawled out of."

Illya was shocked, hearing the horrible things many of the girls were saying about Natsumi. Kyoko and Hana also heard and made disappointed or angry faces, and if the hurt look on Natsumi's face was anything to go by, she heard them too.

"Ignore them." Shirou said to her. "Their presence isn't even worth being called a distraction. They are not a part of your world. Focus only on your goals. Imagine the steps you need to make it a reality and then work towards it."

"You can do it Natsumi-chan!" "Give it your best!" "Don't give up!" Kyoko, Illya and Hana shouted their encouragement. Natsumi nodded her head and kept trying, but the hate was still there.

"I wish they would all just shut up." Illya grumbled as the others kept laughing.

"If she wants them to shut up, she just needs to put on a good enough show." Illya jumped at the squeaky, childish voice. Turning around, she saw an infant, no older than one or two years old, dressed in a black suit and with a weird looking lizard perched on his black fedora on.

Where did he come from?

"Let's see if we can't give my no good student a little push in the right direction." Illya blinked as the odd lizard changed shape right in front of her eyes, turning into a small green gun. ...No, it had always been a toy gun… No it hadn't, it had been a lizard. Hadn't it? Illya felt confused.

The child pointed the toy gun at Natsumi and pulled the trigger.

*BANG*

It moved too quickly for Illya to perceive anything other than a line of yellow light, going from the end of the gun straight to Natsumi's forehead, slipping between the cracks in her helmet.

Natsumi stumbled for a bit, but then something strange happened. Something that made Illya's jaw drop.

A light orange flame started to burn on Natsumi's forehead, inside of the mask, and the girl's entire body started to seemingly glow with an odd light that didn't illuminate anything. Illya thought she could see steam rising off of the girl.

"Wh... Wha!?" Illya cried out in confusion as Natsumi lunged forward at Shirou, her movements speeding up until she was moving as fast as Ryohei had been before. She was just as uncontrolled has he had been, though as Shirou backed up and started to counter, she was much better at dodging his attempts.

"Much better." The baby said, lowering the gun.

"What's going on!? Why is Natsumi on fire!?" Illya said, really starting to panic.

"She really is doing well, isn't she?" Kyoko said, not seeming to see anything unusual about how Natsumi's head was on freaking fire.

Illya didn't understand it. She didn't know what was going on. This was… none of this was right! She was… she was so… so cold.

Illya started to shiver uncontrollably. She was so cold that she could see her own breath misting in front of her eyes. Her head spun and she started to fall.

"Illya-chan!? Are you alright!?" Kyoko cried.

"I'm... I'm..." Illya shuddered through the cold.

"Illya!" She looked up to see her Onii-chan holding her, his eyes panicked. "Illya, you're freezing."

"I'm sorry... Onii-chan." Illya mumbled as her eyes started to close. The last thing she saw was a look of absolute horror on her brother's face as she drifted to sleep.

* * *

**Happy Thanksgiving, you entitled little ****s of the internet.**

* * *

**I'd like to think that the reason why all the Mafioso's worship the ground that Reborn steps on, is kind of like how everything in the Fate-Fanverse always treats Magicians like time bombs. You do whatever you have to in order to keep them happy, because if you don't...**

* * *

**I'd like to clarify something I said in the earlier Authors notes, in that I don't think that Xanxus was undeserving of punishment. I'm just saying that the Ninth claiming that he has unquestionable love for his son rings untrue, when he puts Xanxus through literal hell. The reason he froze Xanxus alive, rather than having him sent to prison, was to send a message to the rest of Varia and to stop himself from losing face, not as an act of love. **

**He didn't adopt Xanxus as an act of compassion, he adopted him to make him into a weapon for his personal use, without the kind of foresight to realize that denying him as an heir would cause problems. Xanxus had MURDERED who knows how many people for the Famiglia based solely on the belief that he was helping his father. Finding out that the Ninth WASN'T his father and didn't have any intention for letting him become the next head would be kind of a big deal after what Xanxus shaped himself into in order to please the man.**

**You also can't claim any kind of justification for KILLING Gokudera, a thirteen year old boy, if he fails a test of loyalty. ****That shit would be bad even if the test wasn't so heavily ridged against him, with everyone told to assure him that it was all for Tsuna's benefit, even after he displayed just how much he didn't want to leave.**

**It is pretty clear that he is working Good Cop/Bad Cop with Reborn and trying to play the Good Cop, telling Tsuna that it is his right to choose his own future, then when Tsuna says that he doesn't want to be a Mafia boss, he just hands things back to Reborn. The entire reason for having the inheritance ceremony four years before he was supposed to was to pressure Tsuna into accepting the position when he was still young and inexperienced enough to fall for that.**

**The only thing that the Ninth actually cares about is the continuation and strength of the Vongola Famiglia. He doesn't care about justice, he doesn't care about his son, he doesn't even really care about Tsuna. It all points to an insecurity about how embarrassingly weak he is by the standards of that universe. Him and all his guardians were irrelevant in terms of power.**

**Granted, he still isn't as bad as Tsuna's father, who actually attempted to murder his own son late in the series and would have killed him if Reborn hadn't stepped in. It is also the case that the Ninth only put the seal on Tsuna because his father asked him to. But the ninth is still a really evil and manipulative person.**


	6. Chapter 6

Not again. Please not again.

Shirou was in the family shed, just staring at the boxes and boxes of materials, trying to think of something he could do, but even after he had started a dozen different projects for helping Illya, but he had nothing concrete to work on.

This wasn't a real workshop. He had next to nothing here, save for the materials he needed to perform basic work. The kind of things he could get over the internet or pick up from a hobby store without people asking too many questions. He didn't have any tomes or scriptures. He didn't have any artifacts or sources. The only thing he had to work with was his own memories, the enchantments contained within the Unlimited Blade Works, and the few experiments he had performed creating his own amplification rings, modeled after his father's.

None of it was of any help. Just like before, Shirou had no idea how to help Illya, when the thing that was attacking her was her own body. Her white flames were starting to grow faster than their red counterparts, creating an imbalance. Where before, the structured nature of the white flames was undone by the destructive nature of the red, now the white flames were no longer being kept in check.

As structure increases, more and more energy can be absorbed and stored within. That was the entire premise of Jewelcraft. But how do you stop it when it is naturally occurring? The only thing he could think of was creating a red fire ring to boost Illya's red flames to keep up with the white, but that would require her to know how to use it. While the self-hypnotism needed to activate one of the rings wasn't that advance, this Illya wasn't a magus.

After his sister passed out, they rushed her home, rather than to a hospital. Illya was tucked into bed along with Leysritt, who started to bathe the girl in her bright purple flames, which quickly stabilized the child's condition.

It seemed that the purple flames somehow possessed the ability to dismantle and incorporate other types of flames in order to make more of itself. Shirou hadn't known that. There was so much about the flames that he didn't know. Even his own yellow and red flames were mostly a mystery to him, even after years of messing around with them. They were an entire separate branch of magecraft that he had never heard of in his previous life.

The only thing he knew was that they were somehow related to the cakra system. But getting your hands on the original Proto-Indo-European texts about the 'wheel of time' wasn't exactly something a middle school student could do, so research was impossible. Such knowledge came from more than 3000 years ago, dying along with the Age of the Gods, back when magecraft was in its infancy. Any that still existed would likely be in the personal treasure rooms of well established Magus families. Perhaps Atlas would have some.

Shirou was so focused on his work, he didn't react when there was a knock at the door. He barely even reacted when the door started to open, just moving enough to toss a piece of cloth over his scribbled notes, the only thing in the room that would have shown Shirou was doing something outside the norm.

"Shirou, you need to wrap up whatever it is you are doing. It's late and you have school tomorrow." Kiritsugu said from the doorway.

"I'm not going." Shirou said simply as he bit his lip and focused on the curvature of an imperfection in the crystal he was working with.

What did school matter? He needed to be here. He needed to find a way to help Illya. He needed to save her this time. He couldn't let her die again.

Sighing, Kiritsugu walked further into Shirou's haven, further than he had ever gone before. He went straight over to the table behind Shirou and sat on its corner. "Illya will be fine. She just needs to start regularly venting her Snow Flames. Her life isn't in any danger."

"...Snow Flames?" Shirou said slowly, figuring his father was talking about Illya's white flames. He had never had a proper name for them, or anything else. He was half in shock. His father had never talked to him about anything abnormal before.

"That's right. They are a rare type of mutation of the standard Sky Flame that creates structure and traps heat. While it can slow the flow of vital energy, it isn't life threatening." Kiritsugu said, hanging his head slightly. "Shirou, I hope that you can forgive us. Even though you were aware of things, we have avoided talking to you about it. I know it must have been confusing for you, but we wanted to keep you and your sister away from the underworld for as long as we could. ...But with things how they are, I don't know if that is possible anymore."

"You… knew." Shirou said, swallowing a little.

"Yes, we did. We all did. I'm surprised Illya didn't find out." Kiritsugu said flatly, his expression not changing, despite his joking words. "You were even more overprotective of her than we were, enchanting all her baby clothes and setting up mystical protections all around her room, as well as the rest of the house and yard. Then there was the way you kept spending the money you made with your repair jobs on odd materials for your projects. Honestly, it would have been impossible for us not to have noticed. Your mother thought it was cute, how you thought you were being sneaky about it."

It was meant as a joke, but Shirou winced.

In the beginning, he had tried to start with small things. Things that could be easily overlooked, or written off, but as time went by and no one seemed to react to anything he did, he started to get bolder and bolder. As childish as it was, he had believed that his family members simply lacked the ability to sense mystic energy, even if they used a variant of it.

"I'm sorry I never told you. I just…" Shirou started, but his words petered out, as he simply had no idea what to say.

Kiritsugu sighed, reaching a hand over and patting Shirou on the head. "I can think of a hundred reasons for you to have been frightened about talking to us about it." Kiritsugu said.

Frightened? Yes, Shirou had been frightened.

Even if he had been mentally twenty-six years old, he had still been afraid of what his family would think if they knew the truth. Afraid that he would lose their love. He had been burned in the past by someone he loved, and once burned, twice shy.

Was twenty-six even that old? Was it old enough to no longer want for love? To no longer fear that it wasn't unconditional? How funny, that Shirou was not afraid to die, but the thought of being abandoned again chilled him to his core.

He hadn't even suspected that his family had already known that he was aware of the wider world. But if that had surprised him, Kiritsugu's next words were world shaking.

"I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you, having those memories from a life that wasn't your own. I can see why you would be afraid to talk to us about something like that." Kiritsugu said, smiling his guilty smile as he did so.

"You… knew?" Shirou said for a second time, his brain running around in circles, trying to figure out how in the world his father could have possibly known that. Even in the world of Magi, reincarnation and memory transfers were not commonplace. Yet Kiritsugu said it with such certainty. He didn't seem to know that the memories came from another Emiya Shirou, but he knew that Shirou possessed a set of memories that came from another life.

"We didn't always know, but we've known for long enough." Kiritsugu said calmly. "It doesn't change anything. You are still part of our family. You never have to worry that any of us would ever feel otherwise."

"...Thank you." Shirou said, his voice breaking as he said it. He couldn't help it, he started to tear up.

"Starting tomorrow, after you get back from school, we will start to teach you and Illya about the Dying Will Flames. But don't think that just because we will teach you means we are giving you permission to get involved." Kiritsugu said, giving Shirou a look. "We heard about what happened with Yamamoto."

Shirou's shoulders sank. "I know. I let myself get tempted in by Reborn, and in the end, I have nothing to show for it."

"You should be glad you are alive." Kiritsugu said flatly. "Even when watched, Yamamoto is not someone with self-control. His skills might have weakened in recent years, but he is still not an ordinary person. You have no idea what that man is capable of."

"...Actually, I do." Shirou said, glancing away from his father. It was time to come clean about the kind of person that Shirou was. "Yamamoto Tsuyoshi is the eighth generation user of the Shigure Soen Ryu style. He inherited the role in his late teens, after he invented the eighth form of the style in order to repel a typhoon to save his friend's life."

It was Kiritsugu's turn to look shocked. "How do you know that?"

Shirou reached over and picked up a screwdriver off his desk, rolling it between his fingers as he pushed a little bit of his prana into it. The surface of the screwdriver started to glow slightly in Kiritsugu's eyes as Shirou did so, lines appearing along its surface. "It's called 'Structural Analysis'. I can read information from any object I come in contact with. Its structure, materials, purpose, even its history. When it comes to weapons, I don't even need to touch them." Shirou explained as Kiritsugu stared intently at the object in his hands. "One glance at the Shigure Kintoki, and I knew everything. I know the Shigure Soen Ryu style even better than he does himself, giving me a huge advantage over him."

Yamamoto had been stronger and more skilled than any normal man could be. He was someone who could casually deflect bullets with his sword, whose moves were too fast for the untrained eye to even follow, and that was before he used his mystic flames to extend his limits. But Shirou could still have won, even if the man went all out.

The difference in strength between Shirou and Yamamoto had been vast, but not as vast as between him and Saber had been.

Shirou's head snapped up as his father grabbed onto his arm, causing him to look up into the man's face. "Shirou, under absolutely no circumstances can you allow Reborn to find out that you have this ability."

"I wasn't planning on telling him anything." Shirou said. "Why? Why is it so important that he doesn't know? What even is Reborn?"

"...That is something that I cannot explain, and something you are better off never knowing." Kiritsugu said drily.

"Dad, you don't need to hide it from me." Shirou said, slightly annoyed about still being treated like a kid, despite his father knowing he was a reincarnation.

"It isn't a matter of hiding it. It is simply something that can't be explained. Not by me." Kiritsugu said with a shake of the head. "But it is better if Reborn and those like him never take an interest in you. You will be safer that way."

'There were others like that monster?' Shirou couldn't help but think. "Dad… just how strong is Reborn?"

"You understand how strong Yamamoto is, correct?" Kiritsugu said, getting a nod from Shirou. "If Reborn fought a hundred people who are all as strong as Yamamoto Tsuyoshi was in his prime, he would slaughter them all at once without even trying." Kiritsugu said grimly. "His boast of being the strongest is not one made lightly."

"...I figured it was something like that." Shirou admitted, his memory going back to the end of his duel with Yamamoto, and the bullets that Reborn had shot. Beyond the abnormality of the bullets, Reborn had shown his skill with the firearm. Not only had he hit two separate moving targets, but there had been less than half a millisecond between shots.

He truly was a monstrous individual.

"Go and get some sleep. We will take more tomorrow."

"Alright. Good night, dad… and thanks."

Kiritsugu didn't respond. He just smiled.

* * *

"Good-morning, Natsumi-chan." Sella said as she answered the door.

"Good-morning, Sella-sensei. Is Illya-chan doing alright?" Natsumi asked. She had woke up early in order to check in on Illya, after her sudden sickness the day before.

"She's doing just fine, though we are going to be keeping her home from school for an extra day as a precaution. Would you like to see her?" Sella asked as she leaned up against the doorframe to allow the girl through.

"Yes please. Sorry for the intrusion." Natsumi said as she squeezed past into the house.

"You aren't intruding at all. You know you can come by anytime you want." Sella said, before glancing back out the door and glaring at the other person who had been out there. "You on the other hand best not step past that gate." The woman said in a threatening tone as she stared Gokudera down. "We aren't at school right now, so there are no rules stopping us from kicking your ass."

Gokudera flinched backwards before grumbling under his breath.

Natsumi wondered what Sella would say if she knew she was threatening a member of the real mafia. Not that she wasn't glad to not have the boy follow her into their house.

As Natsumi climbed the stairs to Illya's room, she was stopped when she saw Irisviel in the hallway, peeking into the young girl's room by a crack in the door. Natsumi blinked in surprise as she realized the woman was giggling to herself.

"Aunt Iris, what are you doing?" Natsumi asked.

"Eep!?" Irisviel squeaked as she turned around to see Natsumi there. She tried to hush Natsumi, but it was too late.

"Was that Natsumi-chan's voice?" Illya asked from within the room. At this, Irisviel ran past Natsumi, whispering 'I wasn't here' as she went.

Puzzled, Natsumi opened the door to find Illya in bed, still in her pajamas while Shirou sat at her bedside, spoon feeding the girl her breakfast. Illya was blushing as bright as a tomato, but seemed happy and healthy.

It explained what Irisviel was doing. The mother had long found Illya's crush on her older brother to be absolutely adorable. It wouldn't have surprised her at all to find out that Irisviel was the one who suggested to Shirou that he assist the girl with eating, even if she was doubtless fine to do it on her own.

"Goodmorning, Illya-chan. I just wanted to see if you were feeling better." Natsumi said.

"Yes. I'm alright." Illya insisted.

"Are you sure? Your face seems awfully red." Natsumi teased, earning a pout from the younger girl.

"I thought the same thing, but she doesn't seem to be running a fever." Shirou also said, a small smile on his face.

"Hey! Don't team up on me! I said I'm fine!" Illya objected.

Giggling, Natsumi reached into her schoolbag and pulled out a few manga. "I thought you might get bored later today, so I brought over some things to keep you busy."

Natsumi remembered Illya enjoying the 'magical girl' genre when they were kids.

The little white haired girl polity thanked Natsumi, setting the manga aside before joining Natsumi in small talk. Though it wasn't long before Kiritsugu arrived and told them to move things along, since Natsumi and Shirou needed to get to school.

"Shirou, Illya will still be here when you get back. Go to school." Kiritsugu said, his voice as steady and understanding as always.

"But…" Shirou said, glancing past the man to his little sister.

"I'm fine, Onii-chan. You are worrying too much." Illya said with a smile. "Now stop babying me so much and go to school. I don't want my Onii-chan to be a delinquent who skips school all the time."

"...Fine. I'll go." Shirou said reluctantly before heading out with Natsumi.

"Have a good day at school you two!" Irisviel said as Natsumi and Shirou started to head towards the school, Gokudera shadowing behind the girl.

As they walked, Shirou was quiet, seeming to be brooding. "Are you alright, Shirou-senpai?" Natsumi asked.

"Huh?" Shirou looked up, blinking, as if just realizing that Natsumi was there. He gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry for zoning out. I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"It's alright." Natsumi replied. With everything that had been happening, she had had a lot on her mind too recently.

"So, how has school been treating you? Are things getting better?" Shirou asked, trying to engage in small talk. "Are you still having problems with bullies?"

"Ah no. After what happened last week, the disciplinary committee has started to have a zero tolerance policy on bullying." Natsumi reported, before something occurred to her. "Wait, that isn't because of you, is it?"

"Well, I did promise I would take care if everything didn't I?" Shirou replied with a smile, though the smile died a little as he looked at Gokudera. "Though I suppose I haven't managed to fix everything."

"Grrr, what is that supposed to mean!?" Gokudera growled in response, though Shirou didn't seem to care.

"Shirou, do you mind if I ask you something?" Natsumi asked, as she struggled to gather her courage.

"Sure, what do you want to know?" Shirou replied.

"That paper that Reborn showed you before you fought Yamamoto-san, what was it?"

Shirou paused, his gentle smile turning to an almost worried look. "I guess you are in too deep now. That thing was… a Geass Contract." Shirou said slowly. "It's a sort of magical contract that would have forced Reborn to keep his promise of answering any question I asked."

"Those kinds of things are real!?" Natsumi said, more than a little shocked at the implication of 'magic' being on the table. As strange as everything had been seeming, her mind hadn't jumped to 'magic' as an explanation.

"That's right. So if I had won, I would have been able to ask Reborn how to get rid of him, and he would have been forced to tell me the truth, or suffer the repercussions of breaking the contract." Shirou explained.

Getting rid of Reborn? So that had been it. Shirou had pushed himself into that dangerous fight for her sack, trying to rescue her from Reborn and the Mafia.

Natsumi felt grateful to him for looking out for her. But she couldn't help having another niggling worry in the back of her mind.

How did Shirou know about this?

"Shirou… are you involved with the Mafia too?" Natsumi asked.

"...I honestly don't know the answer to that. But I don't think so. At the very least, I don't want to have anything to do with them. All of my knowledge about things like Geass Contracts comes from before my amnesia, so I don't know anything about the Mafia's involvement." Shirou replied.

From before his amnesia? So it was from before he was adopted by the Emiyas, when he was five years old.

"Huh, like you could get into the Vongola Famiglia anyways!" Gokudera scoffed, crossing his arms, though Natsumi was too relieved to have noticed.

"Ri...right." Natsumi said with a smile. "After all, nice people don't choose to get involved with anything like the mafia! They are nothing but a bunch of no good criminals."

"Judaime…" Gokudera said, sounding almost betrayed.

"...I wouldn't go that far." Shirou said, surprising Natsumi. "Organized crime isn't inherently evil."

"What do you mean?" Natsumi asked.

"During the Cold War, there were groups of individuals who would smuggle food, clothes and medicine across the Iron Curtain into Soviet territory to be sold on the black market. These people were criminals, some even formed organized crime group, similar to the Mafia, and would retaliate against the corrupt leaders in order to protect the people who were unjustly oppressed... or rather because those leaders would try to take their goods." Shirou explained. "While they were definitely criminals and mobsters, their actions saved the lives. Even to this day, there are parts of the world where innocent people have to rely on such mercenary and local militant groups in order to protect themselves, often from their own corrupt government. Why 'protection money' has a negative stigma, it really started as just that, a sort of private pseudo-police force."

"Is… is that true?" Natsumi said. Reborn had said something similar before, but it sounded more shocking, coming from Shirou.

"That said, those are situations with strong authoritarian rulers oppressing their own people. Places like modern day Italy and Japan have little need for such groups." Shirou said with a shake of the head. "They have lost their original purpose, and are mostly just groups of thugs and money launderers now… and apparently mystic mojo backing them up."

"That's right… the world doesn't need them." Natsumi said, holding onto the thread of logic that supported her rejection of Reborn's desires for her to join the Mafia.

"Now it's my turn to ask a question." Shirou said, glancing over at Natsumi. "What exactly is Reborn?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Natsumi asked.

"I mean what is he? He doesn't seem to be human at all, but I can't tell what he is."

Reborn not human? What was Shirou talking about? He was just a baby, wasn't he? A super weird, mafia baby, but still just a baby. Natsumi couldn't understand why Shirou thought otherwise.

It seemed like Natsumi wasn't the only one who thought so. "What the hell are you talking about? Reborn might be the world's greatest, but he is still a human baby." Gokudera said with a scoff.

"Are you so sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! I've known Reborn for years! He's been dating my older sister since I was seven!" Gokudera shouted.

...Alright that was weird. Gokudera's older sister was dating a baby? Natsumi didn't even know that Gokudera had an older sister.

"...When you were seven?" Shirou said with a raised eyebrow. "Tell me, how old is Reborn?"

"Huh? He's around one year old, I think." Gokudera mumbled.

Yeah, Natsumi would say he looked like a one year old infant. He was still missing most of his baby teeth.

...It took a moment for that to strike Natsumi as odd. "Wait, so you met Reborn more than five years ago, but Reborn is only a year old?" Natsumi questioned.

"That's right, so I would know that Reborn is 100% normal human. Don't listen to this guy's nonsense, Judaime." Gokudera said, not seeming to understand what he had just said.

"But Gokudera-san, if you met Reborn when you were seven, then that means that Reborn must be at least five years old." Natsumi pointed out.

"Huh… that's… I…" Gokudera seemed confused. "He's one… but he was around six years ago… six is greater than… huh…"

"Are you alright?" Natsumi asked as Gokudera clutched at his head.

"Reborn is just an ordinary baby." Gokudera mumbled.

Even when faced with the evidence, Gokudera couldn't even accept that Reborn wasn't what he appeared to be.

Someone who warped people's perspective and made people see him as family just by being there. He was like a villain from an Anime. One who would steal the protagonist's family away from them, and make them turn on him.

The thought alone was enough to make Natsumi shiver.

"Emiya-senpai! We've got an emergency!" Natsumi looked up to see Kusakabe rushing towards them from the direction of the school, a slight look of panic on his face.

"What's the matter, Kusakabe-san?" Shirou asked.

"It's… It's the Counsel Room's window unit. The fan has started to make a lot of noise." Kusakabe said once he reached them.

...How was that an emergency?

"With all that noise, Hibari-sama isn't going to be able to have his afternoon nap. And if he doesn't then…"

...Oh. That's why. Sweat formed on the back of Natsumi's neck as she thought about what Hibari would do if deprived of his afternoon nap.

"God dammit, Hibari." Shirou said, facepalming a bit. "Sorry Natsumi. If I don't take care of this now, Hibari will probably try to take over the front office again. Good luck, and I'll see you after school."

"Yeah, see you." Natsumi said as Shirou started to hurry down the road with Kusakabe, leaving Natsumi alone with Gokudera again.

"Reborn is one, but he is also… one… yeah. He's an infant. Damn Tomato trying to confuse me." Gokudera grumbled.

* * *

Illya hated weekdays alone at home. Nothing good was ever on TV, because the stations all assumed that only really young or really old people were at home. So the only animated shows that were on were the kind to teach little kids about the names of colors and shapes.

Illya was WAY too old for that kind of stuff... even if the little rabbit mascots were cute.

So Illya was glad for the distraction provided by the manga that Natsumi had left for her. Even if she could have recited what happened in the first volume from heart, even before reading it.

As much as Illya liked the magical girl genre, she was willing to admit it was pretty formulaic. A small, adorable mascot figure from a magical land shows up and bumps into a determined little girl who just so happens to have magical talent and helps her awaken it in order to fight against evil in the name of love and justice. After that, they would slowly bring the gang together and awaken them to their powers.

"What a coincidence, after the main character awakens, half her new classmates turn out to be chosen as well?" Illya chuckled at the predictable plot.

"It isn't a coincidence. It's fate." Said a squeaky voice.

Illya jumped with surprise before looking up to the foot of her bed to see the baby in the fedora from the day before. "You again?" She said, not knowing what else to say.

How had he gotten into her room?

"Power attracts power, and those with power can't escape it. From the moment they are born, they are separated from the rest. Destined to either fly through the sky or fall to the earth." The baby said, giving Illya a smile as he stared at her with large unblinking eyes.

"Who… who are you?" Illya asked.

"Ciaossu. I'm Reborn, and you, Emiya Illya, are a very special little girl." The baby said, as he raised his hand. The green lizard on his hat transformed into a gun, the same way it had the day before. Illya squeaked and pushed herself back in her bed, her eyes on the green gun.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Illya cried, hoping her voice would attract her mother and father.

"It is time for you to awaken to your power. REBORN!" Reborn said, pulling the trigger.

There was a yellow flash of light, and suddenly Illya's world was filled with only a single thought…

* * *

"I told you that you needed to clean the outflow pipe on occasion if you didn't want this to happen." The Chidori chirped his annoying chirp while he put back together the newly repaired air conditioner.

"Do your work quietly and then leave, Chidori. I don't have time for your nonsense." Hibari said, as he looked over the reports made by the other members of the committee about trouble makers that would need to be dealt with.

It seems that the recent up in punishments for bullying was seeing a backlash, as those punished complained. How dare those Herbivores think that they have the right to complain about being punished for the disturbances they cause.

"Someone will need to be made an example of. Who are the best targets?" Hibari asked the few members of his committee he had called into the room to discuss the matter with.

Even with the reception room being as large as it was, Hibari would never permit more than seven people to crowd into it at once. So including the Chidori and Kusakabe, there were five people in the room, besides Hibari himself.

...It was still too crowded for his liking.

"Right now, the biggest offenders would be the Judo club." Kusakabe informed him, pushing the files across the table, documenting their rebellious behavior. And it seemed like they were trying to band together with the Karate club. They had approached the Sumo Club about a possible alliance, but the members of the Sumo Club didn't have any problems with the recent policies about bullying.

Honestly, Hibari didn't really care too much about the victims of bullying, but it was a disruption to the discipline of Namimori Middle School, and as such must be squashed.

But while Hibari was reading over the information and deciding on the best way to approach crushing those worthless herbivores, something happened.

First, the Chidori, who had just finished putting the window unit back together, suddenly stiffened, his head up and his eyes widened. Then, Hibari himself felt an unusual presence, similar to that he got from that strange infant who was his mother's uncle. It caused the Disciplinary Committee Leader to instinctively grab for his tonfas and a slight rush to pump through his veins.

He turned his head to the door as the feeling grew closer, but when the door flew open, Hibari was left shocked, as rather than the powerful individual he had been expecting, he instead found a small girl with snow white hair dressed in her pajamas, a bright pink flame in the middle of her forward, matching her pink/red eyes..

The rest of the Disciplinary Committee members were confused as the girl entered the room, and even shivered a bit as the temperature in the room dropped like a rock. The doorknob started to accumulate frost underneath the girl's fingers as her eyes quickly scanned the room.

"Illya?" The Chidori said as he stared at the girl.

"Onii-chan!" The girl said, her voice loud as she dashed across the room to the red haired teen. She moved so fast that none save for Hibari, Kusakabe and the Chidori could even track her movements. "Please...! Please go to the zoo with me this weekend!" The child shouted at the top of her lungs.

Everyone stared in shock as the girl's panting slowed down and the pink flame on her forehead died away. The undeniable power disappearing with it.

"O...Onii-chan? What am I…? Eeh!" The girl squealed and dropped to her knees, covering her face with her hands. "Why did I just…! Eeh! I can't believe I just did that!"

"Illya, it's alright. Calm…" The Chidori was trying to comfort the girl, but Hibari butted in.

"Small animal." Hibari said, getting the girl's attention. She gave a squeak of surprise as she noticed the weapons in the black haired boy's hands. "Why are you disrupting the discipline of Namimori Middle School?"

"I… I…" The girl started to tear up as Hibari's cold eyes stared down at her.

Then it happened.

Hibari hadn't even blinked, but the Chidori had moved himself between them, and had the screwdriver he had been using to repair the air conditioner pressed up against Hibari's throat.

Hibari froze as a monstrous wave of killing intent washed over him. "Don't even think about it." The Chidori… Emiya Shirou, said. His eyes, which were usually either passive or simply tired, were now promising death should Hibari make so much as a move.

At first, Hibari was shocked, but then a grin spread across his face. "Fine then, I'll leave this to you, Carnivore." Hibari said as he lowered his weapons and stepped away.

Shirou turned away from him, not seeming to be even slightly concerned about the boy's presence anymore as he turned to his… little sister?

"Come on, Illya, let's go." Shirou said, as he helped the confused girl up and led her out of the room.

"...What the hell was that?" One of the Disciplinary Committee members said with wide eyes.

"Who knew that Emiya-san could be so scary?" Another said.

They had been shaken by merely being in the ripples of Shirou's anger, left behind after crashing against Hibari like waves. However, if that had shaken them, they all went stone still as Hibari began to laugh.

"Kyou-kun?" Kusakabe said, falling back into the more casual form of address that he would use with Hibari when visiting his home for training.

Kusakabe had never seen such a smile on Hibari's face as the Disciplinary Committee Leader sat back in his chair, a line of blood dripping from the cut on his neck, where Shirou had pressed the screwdriver.

All this time, Hibari had believed Shirou to be a Chidori, a useful bird who simply lacked the healthy fear of a Carnivore's jaws. Only now did he realize how wrong he was. He had been like a house cat sharing his living space with a full grown lion, proudly believing himself to be the strongest around, and only spared by the lion's lack of interest.

Hibari felt a thrill that he hadn't felt in a long time.

* * *

**This chapter turned out to be 5790 words long. Felt a hell of a lot longer though.**

**My grandmother was actually involved in the less than legal procurement of western medications to smuggle past the iron curtain, with mafia like people doing the movement of the goods.**

**This is something that really happened. **

* * *

Further Story Outline.

(Ring Battle Arc Starts)

**Chapter 37 - 39**

Natsumi finds sees her mother overly happy, thinking that it was because Natsumi's birthday was supposed to be the following day. She is then informed that her 'father' is coming home.

Seeing Natsumi upset, the girls suggest going to the mall in order to relax.

Basil and Lal Mirch shows up, followed by Squalo and other members of Varia. Natsumi and her friends have to fight Squalo and Varia until Shirou and Kiritsugu arrive. Shirou reveals that the half rings that Basil has were fake, and Kiritsugu tells Squalo to get the fuck off out of his town, or else declare war.

Squalo tries to demand Basil and Lal Mirch get handed over, but Kiritsugu refuses, saying that CEDER is the Emiya's enemy and it is their territory, and they want first interrogation rights.

Lal Mirch and the rest of the Arcobaleno (save for Viper) meet to discuss the future, including the training of Natsumi's Guardians.

Natsumi returns home, sees her 'father' and then turns around and goes to the Emiya residence instead, asking to stay until the man is gone.


	7. Chapter 7

Illya had never been more confused or embarrassed in her entire life.

It was like a strange mixture of wish fulfillment and a walking nightmare.

After the yellow flash of light hit her, the only thing Illya could think about was how she wished she had gone on a date with her Onii-chan. The next thing she knew, she had jumped out the second story window of her house and started running down the street, moving so fast as to leave the cars behind her in the dust. She had felt incredibly strong and free as she jumped over small houses in order to cut the distances between her and the school.

What was normally a twenty minute walk was covered in just thirty seconds, after which she ran through the middle school at top speed, checking room after room until she found what she had been searching for; her Onii-chan.

Then, the power that had been driving her forward disappeared and Illya was left standing in the middle of the school in her pajamas, with everyone staring at her and that scary black haired boy glaring down at her.

Now she was in one of the staff rooms with her Onii-chan, waiting for her mama to arrive to pick her up. She didn't have a clue how she was going to explain this to her.

Her Onii-chan had one arm around Illya, and it felt so warm. It was the first time in days that she had been able to feel warm, save for when her mama held her. She allowed herself to be absorbed into that feeling of safety and comfort.

The bell sounded for classes to start.

"Onii-chan, don't you need to go to class?" Illya asked a little weakly. She didn't really want him to leave her to wait for mama alone, but she didn't want him to get into trouble.

"It's only the homeroom period. No one will care if I'm not there." Shirou said.

"I'm sorry." Illya mumbled weakly.

"You don't need to be sorry. I really don't mind, and none of this is your fault." Shirou said with a kind smile.

Wasn't her fault? That's right. It was all because of that weird baby. Next time she saw him, she would have words… so long as he didn't have that gun out.

"Illya?" Irisviel said as she arrived to pick up her daughter.

"Mama, I…" Illya started. She had been trying to think of how she was going to explain all this when her mother came, but couldn't think of anything to say.

Not that it mattered, as Irisviel squealed and jumped across the room, pulling her daughter into a hug. "Oh Illya, you are so adorable! Running all the way to school to see your Onii-chan!" The grown woman said, leaving her daughter left dumbstruck by her usual unusual actions.

"You aren't mad?" Illya asked. Most parents would be upset if their sick child suddenly decided to get out of bed and run across town. Not to mention the trouble she made at the school for Leysritt and Sella.

"You know we could never be mad at you, and you don't need to worry about explaining anything." Irisviel said in a gentle voice as she ran her hands through her daughter's hair. "More importantly, how are you feeling? Do you still feel cold?"

"No. I'm alright." Illya said, shaking her head.

"I'm glad." Irisviel said with a warm smile before scooping up her daughter into her arms. "Come on. Let's go home."

"Alright. See you later, Onii-chan." Illya said as she wrapped her arm around her mother's neck.

"I'll see you tonight. And Illya, how about the two of us go to the zoo this weekend." Shirou said with a smile.

"Y...Yes!" Illya said, blushing a little with excitement.

Their mother giggled before carrying Illya out, leaving Shirou alone.

As soon as the girls were gone, the gentle look disappeared from Shirou's face as he clenched his fist. "Reborn…" He growled as he reached into the pocket of his blazer and pulled out a pair of rings.

There were a hundred reasons not to do what Shirou was about to do, but at the moment, he didn't care.

* * *

Leysritt ignored the small chatter of her students as they enjoyed the free period that was the homeroom hour. She was pretending to read one of her books while thinking over the morning's events.

They all should have seen all this coming.

With Illya's snow flames having accumulated to a level where she might start to be a danger to others, it was agreed that Reborn's dying will bullets would be the safest and most effective way to drain away little Illya's pent up power. So after Shirou left the house, Reborn was let in to work his magic.

The entire family had known that if Shirou found out what was happening, that he would try to get involved, and with them wanting to isolate him from Reborn as much as possible, they tried to do it while he wasn't around.

This turned out to be an exercise in futility.

It really shouldn't have come as a shock to anyone when the little Oniicon's dying regret was not having asked her older brother out on a date. Leysritt swore she would tease her niece about this later.

Still, it was a mission success, the two minutes spent expending her built up flames had returned Illya to a completely stable state. Now they just had to teach her how to use a ring to drain herself every once and awhile. Illya was young, but it hopefully wouldn't take more than a week or two.

The only problem would be how they were going to explain to her what the flames were, and why she had them, without getting her involved in the darker world. Leysritt was not looking forward to that and would do her best to dismiss herself from that conversation.

Leysritt looked up as the door to the room opened. "Shirou?" She said, surprised to see her nephew coming in, his expression completely void of emotion.

"Emiya-senpai?" "What is senpai doing here?" "Shirou-senpai?"

The students were confused as Shirou walked straight past all of them, not making eye contact with anyone as he moved to stand before one of the cabinets in the back. "I know you're there Reborn. Come out."

Leysritt was as surprised as the rest of them as the cabinet doors swung open by themselves to reveal Reborn, sitting in a tiny armchair with Leon climbing all over him. The little lizard was shifting about rapidly, its face somehow managing to convey excitement as Reborn looked up at Shirou with his large black eyes.

"Ciaossu." Reborn said as his only response to Shirou calling him out.

How had Shirou even known he had been there?

Shirou fingers reached out, as if gripping for something that wasn't there before relaxing slightly. "You'd promised to answer a question. I'm calling it in." He said. "Meet me on the roof."

"Sure thing." Reborn replied before the doors swung shut and the sound of a machine could be heard from within.

Then Shirou himself started to leave the room, ignoring the gossip of the surrounding children. "Shirou, what do you think you're doing!?" Leysritt said, though she paused as Shirou looked back at her, his golden eyes somehow managing to look like his father's black.

"I just have a question to ask. Nothing more." He said flatly before walking out and closing the door behind him.

Leysritt knew that look. It was the same look the boy's father had when he was about to do something and didn't want anyone else involved, and wouldn't let anyone stop him. Dammit, why did the boy have to be so much like his father?

Leysritt immediately pulled her phone out of her pocket and started to dial Kiritsugu's number, hoping the man would be able to talk some sense into Shirou. Only, all she got was a very unusual ringtone. "Reborn. Reborn. Reborn."

Reborn had jammed her phone. That little weasel!

The woman swore. "I need to leave. All of you stay in your seats until I get back. Kurokawa-san, you're in charge if something happens while I'm gone."

God she hoped Shirou would have enough sense to not pick a fight with Reborn.

* * *

"So, what's your question?" Reborn asked Shirou when the two met on the roof of the school building.

Shirou stared hard at the baby before answering. "What do you want with Natsumi and Illya?"

"Is that it? That's an easy one." Reborn said with a chuckle. "Natsumi is the last blood descendent of an old family line in the mafia world. As such, she will become the next leader. I'm here to make sure of that, whether the girl wants to or not. As for your little sister, she was also born into this world of shadows, even if old Kiri-kun tries to deny it. He's a fool if he thinks that he can shelter her from it forever. Just like Natsumi, her bloodline is too valuable to simply be left alone."

Shirou gritted his teeth, his magic circuits were humming as his anger started to boil over. "They are innocent. You don't have the right to drag them down like this."

"Maybe, but it is entertaining." Reborn countered with a shrug.

"...I will give you this one warning. Leave them alone." Shirou said.

"Or else what?" Reborn said, openly goading the boy. At that point, Shirou hardly even needed the invitation. He had sworn to himself long ago that he would never let anyone use Illya like a tool again.

Shirou dashed forward at inhuman speeds and swung out his arms, blades appearing in his empty hands as aimed for Reborn's little neck.

Reborn was not taken by surprise, and Leon transformed into a boton, right in time to block Shirou's cross slash and beginning to counter attack. Shirou parried the blow with a pale white sword as an almost identical one that was black with red lines crossing over it, came forward for a swift strike. The two fought back and forth, moving at speeds that few could follow.

While his hidden strength had been somewhat expected, Reborn couldn't help but marvel at Shirou's skill. Just like in his fight with Tsuyoshi, the boy showed a talent for sword play that seemed to transcend style and forms.

Most practice swordsmen would struggle when fighting someone of Reborn's size without throwing their balance too far forward and leaving themselves open for counterattacks. But Shirou seemed to have no problems arranging his moves in order to not fumble himself. It was as if he was used to fighting someone not even half his size.

Where did a boy his age learn to fight like this? And where did he pull those swords from? Reborn could tell at a glance that they weren't mist constructs. Mist Flames might have been usable in creative illusionary objects, but such objects would be torn to pieces in an instant if made to clash against Reborn's strength, even if the hitman was holding back. But these swords could more than take a hit. So what were they?

Reborn couldn't help but to become more and more curious about the boy.

Reborn swung at Shirou's left side, only to be blocked by one of the twin blades, the boy using the momentum from Reborn's own attack to pivot on his left leg, adding it all to the swing of his second weapon. Reborn just managed to bring his own weapon back to parry, causing the swing to go over his head.

An opening.

The sword that Shirou had used to guard was now out of position due to the pivoting of the boy's body, and the momentum in his second sword's swing wouldn't allow him to pull it back in time. Reborn sprang forward, prepared to give Shirou a loving kick to his side, a lesson to the boy not to leave such openings.

Only the recently swung sword disappeared from Shirou's hand, allowing the boy to bring it to an immediate hult. Reborn was forced to defend again as the empty hand came back around, a new sword appearing in it, with a reverse grip. Reborn managed to block the attack but then had to find a way to deal with the thrust from Shirou's second blade coming straight for his stomach. There wasn't enough time to reposition.

Reborn barely managed to maneuver his boton into a position to block both attacks. However, his balance was thrown and Shirou took advantage of it, using the cross slash to send Reborn flying up over forty feet into the air, spinning like a top.

Reborn had to admit, he was impressed as he used his Sun Flames to correct his balance just in time to deflect the pair of spinning swords that the boy tossed after him.

Shirou didn't waste a moment, calling on a black bow, so massive that he was over twice his size and what appeared to be a large metal ballista bolt.

A vision appeared in the back of Shirou's mind. A solitary sword within a stone pedestal. "Draw the blade from the stone." He mumbled as the sword broke free, unleashing a golden glow.

The canary yellow ring on Shirou's finger began to glow bright as he used the mental trigger he had connected to the activation of those flames to help him focus the power. The yellow flames spread onto the bolt as he drew it back and took aim at the airborne infant.

The air popped as the bolt tore through the sound barrier, traveling well over five times the speed of sound, up towards Reborn. A second bolt appeared, followed by a third and a forth as Shirou continued to fire. Four shots launched in a single second.

The Sun Flames' Activation effect spread up the shots, over doubling its ordinary speed. But even at such ridiculous speeds, Reborn had no trouble at all following them. Using Leon, he swiped the bolts out of the air, parrying them away one by one.

However, as he deflected the fourth and final arrow, he noticed something different about it, cracks covering its surface. The moment Reborn saw it, he immediately coated his skin in a thin layer of hardened flames.

*BOOM!*

An explosion went off, shattering many of the school building's windows as a sphere of fire and smoke appeared in the air around the point where Reborn had just been, obscuring vision somewhat.

Shirou didn't stop, creating a fifth arrow to launch into the cloud, but before he could launch it, several shots of yellow light exited the smoke and were coming straight for him.

"Rho Aias!" Using up some of his prana to call on the bright pink petals of the Seven Rings that Cover the Fiery Heavens. Only he wasn't able to create all seven layers. Without Archer's arm, or some other source of prana to supplement his own, he couldn't spam Noble Phantasms without draining himself away. Four layers of the shield's defenses was all he dared to spend on. But even that was more than enough to stop Reborn's bullets.

The Noble Phantasm was a conceptual weapon against 'thrown weapons' but standard projectiles were still resisted to an extent. Even with Reborn's unusual shots, Shirou should be safe. However, with the shield between Shirou and Reborn, he couldn't shoot either.

He watched as Reborn descended out of the cloud of smoke, his suit tattered, there were scratches on his face and the sideburn on the side of his head where the arrow exploded was singed off. But otherwise, he appeared unharmed.

Reborn was all smiles as he lifted up his bright green gun and fired dozens more shots. Only rather than flying straight towards Shirou, these bullets started to twist and turn in the air. "Ciaossu Shot!"

As the shots moved around the edges of Rho Aias's influence, Shirou dismissed his bow and called out his twin blades again, using them to smash the yellow bursts of energy as they came for him. He was forced to use more of the yellow flames in order to speed up his arms and legs in order to keep up with the frequency of the attacks. Crimson flames enveloping his swords in order to destroy the bullets on contact.

While he was preoccupied with that, Reborn had returned to the ground and was closing in fast. He pulled back his left fist and punched Rho Aias.

Shirou was shocked as the force of the blow put cracks in the first layer of shield. Even without its conceptual power, each layer of Rho Aias should be able to take a blow capable of leveling an entire fortress wall, and yet Reborn had just put cracks in it with his bare hands.

Seeing the shield still standing, Reborn pulled back his right hand behind his head, and let Leon expand. Within the blink of an eye, the small green gun had transformed into a hammer that's head was larger than Shirou was.

Shirou moved back and braced himself as Reborn swung the massive thing into Rho Aias, the force of the blow causing the entire school to rattle, as if from an earthquake. All four layers of the shield shattering from the swing.

Cuts appeared all over Shirou's body, and his muscles tore as he received his penalty for Rho Aias's destruction, but he only groaned and attacked back.

Reborn easily blocked Shirou's swings, his weapon sizzling from contact with the crimson flames, but the yellow flames caused the lizard to regenerate faster than the damage could be stacked on.

However, it was as Reborn was blocking Shirou's attack that the swords he threw earlier finally made their return trip. Though before the spinning blades could land, Reborn pushed hard off of Shirou, knocking him back and creating distance between them before shooting both of the thrown weapons out of the air.

"I am the Bone of my Sword." Shirou said as he made to his catch his breath, opening up more of his magic circuits in order to stabilize himself.

He judged the damage to his body, stitching together the wounds with tiny swords and started to use the yellow flames to rapidly repair what he could. But even as he did so, the small cuts on Reborn's skin also began to glow with a faint yellow light before shrinking away into flawless skin. Even his sideburn grew back out, until it was no different than it had been before.

In a few seconds, both fighters looked like they were almost back in peak condition, only Shirou had just used a good chunk of his prana, and a large amount of his reserve of yellow flames. Meanwhile, Reborn's power reservoir hadn't seemed to have gone down in the slightest.

"So, ready for round two?" Reborn chipped, with no sign of exhaustion at all as his weapon returned to being a gun.

"Trace on. Begin projection. Ending resonance of possession experience. Processes, completed. All projections, standby." Shirou replied, as dozens of swords began to appear, suspended by invisible hands.

"I'll take that as a yes."

* * *

Even since this morning, Natsumi felt like there was something wrong with Shirou. Not that it was hard to tell what it was.

Shirou had long doted over his younger sister, so her being sick, with him unable to help her, left the guy in a state of distress. That morning, on their way into school, his expression had been as dead as it had been when they were all kids, when Kiritsugu had first brought him back after adopting him. When she had called out to him, he had put on a face, pretending to be already, but it didn't have the heart in it.

It had made Natsumi worry for him, but not nearly as much as she worried when he came into her classroom that morning.

When Shirou came looking for Reborn, it had been the first time that Natsumi had ever seen him that angry. She had seen him angry in the past, but nothing like this. What had Reborn done to make Shirou so mad, and what were they doing that moment on the roof? What was Reborn going to do to him?

Shirou was amazing, how he handed Gokudera and his match with the older Yamamoto proved that, but Reborn… Reborn was unnatural. More than Gokudera, more than Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, it was Reborn that seemed capable of anything. She didn't want Shirou to get hurt, like he almost did in his fight with the older Yamamoto, especially not for her sack.

Natsumi didn't know what to do. She wanted to help him, but she had no idea what to say or do to make things alright again. The old fear of failure seeped into her heart, paralyzing her. After all, she was 'No-Good Natsumi', even if she tried, it would always end in failure.

Maybe she was just over thinking things. Maybe she misread the situation. Maybe nothing would happen at all.

Such optimism went out the window as there was a near deafening explosion and the windows themselves shattered. Confusion spread through the classroom as the students took shelter underneath their desks, as if this was an earthquake, rather than an explosion. They were all unusually calm about the situation.

As Natsumi's ears stopped ringing from the blast, she could make out the sound of gunfire coming from above. Natsumi's eyes widened in horror as she realized what this meant.

Shirou and Reborn were fighting.

Natsumi was frightened. Frightened to get involved. But she remembered the smile that Shirou gave her as he promised that he would take care of everything. She didn't know what she could do, but she had to do something.

Before she knew it, Natsumi was out of her desk and running as best she could for the door, stumbling a bit as the building shook violently before running all the harder for the stairs.

"Judaime, wait! It's dangerous!" Gokudera shouted as he followed after her, but she didn't stop.

She reached the stairs and headed up, holding onto the railing to stop herself from falling in the case of another aftershock as the sounds of battle became closer and closer. She managed to reach the top and open the door onto the school's roof and then stood in complete shock of what she was seeing.

The roof was a disaster zone. The stone tiles were shattered and singe marks riddled the ground, some of the metal railing around the edges had torn out, the water tank had a gaping hole in it, and the entire thing was covered in discarded swords.

Then, standing in the middle of it all, were two figures, one the taller red haired boy wielding a pair of black and white swords covered in crimson flames, the other a tiny baby holding a green object that shifted and changed so rapidly as to be unidentifiable which glowed with golden light. Shirou's limbs were a blur and Reborn's entire body moved about so rapidly as to seem like a black and yellow streak. Each time the two clashed, the air shook and sparks flew in all directions. Swords and golden balls of light danced around the two, clashing against each other before shattering to pieces.

"What… the hell?" Gokudera said, speaking the words that Natsumi was too shocked to say herself. The entire scene was just otherworldly. The fight between Shirou and Yamamoto couldn't begin to compare.

In a moment's clash, the distance between the two suddenly increased as they moved to opposite ends of the roof. "Spirit and technique, flawless and firm." Shirou said, his voice carrying its own power as he tossed his swords at Reborn, whose weapon took on the form of a familiar green gun shooting the weapons away. "Our strength rips the mountains. Our swords split the water." Another pair of blades appeared in the boy's hand which he again threw out of the sides as he started to charge forward. The thrown swords started to change directions in midair, all of them homing in on Reborn's position. "Our names reach the imperial villa." Reborn stands his ground, choosing to fire at the oncoming Shirou instead.

A final pair of swords appeared in Shirou's hands to deflect the bullets. "The two of us cannot hold the heavens together." These two swords glowed with power as they started to grow larger and larger, until they were as large as Shirou was tall, appearing like wings as Shirou jumped upwards, above Reborn, swinging down as the other swords closed in.

A bright flash of yellow light shot out from Reborn's body, blasting the thrown weapons off course as Reborn's gun transformed into a massive green riot shield, covered in yellow flames, taking Shirou's slash head on.

The wind for the clash was enormous and Natsumi was nearly blown backwards into the stairwell, save for that a hand pressed against her back, supporting her.

"Thanks." Natsumi said.

"Herbivores should not stand so close while carnivores are fighting."

The girl gave a little involuntary squeak as she realized that the one who had stopped her from being knocked back was Hibari, the President of the Disciplinary Committee.

"Hey, get your hands off Judaime!" Gokudera somehow managed to growl, though Hibary didn't even look at either of them, as he was too busy staring at the scene before them all.

Shirou shot back out of the smoke, and as it cleared, Reborn still stood there, with his insufferable smile and a large green shield with whip like tendrils coming off of it.

"Not bad, but not good enough." Reborn said with a chuckle as Shirou kept his breaths deep and steady, not wasting the energy to respond.

He glanced slightly to the side, in the direction of Natsumi, though his large eyes didn't visibly change at all. He hadn't expected his No-Good student to come towards the fighting, though he was quite pleased. Coming to try to support him, even when she knew there was nothing she could do. She was taking her responsibilities as Shirou's boss seriously. He was proud of her, for that at least.

Fighting Shirou was fun. It was the first fight Reborn had to be even slightly serious in since… he couldn't even remember when the last time he was in a serious fight. It had to have been over two or three years ago. Not that he had been getting rusty. Though Shirou was still at a disadvantage.

Skilled as he was with swords, and interesting as more unique powers were, his flames were lacking. His control over his flames was pretty good, but there was something off about all of it. His generation of flames was rather low. He could turn the faucet for his flames off and on with ease, but there wasn't enough pressure in the pipes to get a good strong flame going. He was willing to die, but the weight behind the resolve wasn't enough. He needed a bit of a push in the right direction.

"I have to say that I am kind of disappointed. Do you honestly think you can do anything to charge those girls' fate when this is all you got?" Reborn said, goading the boy. "Face it, if you can't even beat little old me, then no matter what you do, Natsumi and Illya's lives will belong to the mafia."

"Illya-chan!?" Natsumi gasped at Reborn's words. Was Reborn dragging sweet little Illya into all of this as well? Why?

"Shut up!" Shirou growled, glaring at daggers at the monster infant, his flames growing as his rage boiled over. "I don't care. I don't care who you are, what you are, or how strong you are. Natsumi and Illya… they are my family, and I won't let anyone take advantage of them. Not even you."

Even as the flames grew, Reborn couldn't help but laugh. Shirou's words were so similar to his father's. The two really were so much alike. It brought him back to the old days, when Reborn had first met the rambunctious little brat by the name Emiya Kiritsugu.

Still, Shirou had a few more surprises up his sleeve.

"Steel is my Body and Fire is my Blood." Shirou said, pumping out more Od as he raised his left hand. "Trace On." Reborn blinked as five copies of the boy's ruby red Storm Ring appeared on his raised hand, each with its own flame. "Shatter the Grail!"

Cracks appeared on the rings before each one exploded, releasing a massive amount of Storm Attributed flames, a hundred times as much as Shirou had been able to generate before. Tnd the flames themselves were strange, a mixture of blood red and inky black that felt as if they wanted everything to be destroyed. They appeared to be more like the Flames of Destruction than the standard Storm Flames, perhaps even more sinister.

Reborn barely had time to be surprised as Shirou rushed forward, pumping some of the flames into his twin swords and taking a swing at the baby hitman, as the rest remained gathered around his hands.

Smoke rose as the radiation from the swords was enough to start blackening the stone tiles. If Reborn's clothes weren't flame resistant, then he would probably have soon found himself naked just from being in proximity to the flames. Even Shirou's own clothes were being burned away, his sleeves getting shorter by the second. Reborn was surprised that the boy's blades could even survive those destructive flames. Even his skin was being burned by his own flames.

...No, wait, those weren't burns. The blackened areas on the boy's body looked more like tribal tattoos than burns.

Shirou's dying will flames were nothing like they were before, and for the first time since the fight began, Reborn actually started to use the Sun Pacifier, causing it to begin to glow a bright yellow.

Even five of Shirou's rings, all pushed to the point of breaking, could not compare to the power of an Arcobaleno's Pacifier. If Shirou had managed to generate 100,000 units of flames, enough to destroy the entire school, then Reborn could easily generate 10,000,000 units.

Leon glowed brighter than ever as he recovered from any damage passed onto him by those sinister red and black flames. Reborn's body was guarded by a thin layer of those same flames, preventing him from being damaged by the energy Shirou was giving off.

Still, Shirou's sword skills were proving as annoying as ever, and while the boy himself seemed to have no problems with the flames decreasing his visibility, Reborn found himself being attacked as the flames trailing behind Shirou's swings blanketed his vision, with only the extreme speed granted to him by his Sun Flames allowing him to evade the up close attacks.

Tired of being at a disadvantage, Reborn retreated away, changing things back to a ranged battle as he once again used his gun to fill the area with bullets. Shirou then counted by swinging his blades outwards, creating a wave of the Storm Flames, which caused the bullets to turn to ash on contact.

However, his attack didn't end there. Six sharp nails attached to chains came rocketing out from behind the veil of fire giving Reborn minimal amount of time to evade the flaming chains as they curved towards him, causing the little hitman to jump up into the air to avoid the high speed chains.

But his need to move quickly resulted in an unfortunately high jump, leaving him suspended in the air. And as he soared upwards, he saw over the veil of fire and saw Shirou, once again holding the massive black bow, a black sword in his second hand.

"I have created over a Thousand Blades." Shirou said, as he started to pump Od into his final trace, transforming the sword into an arrow.

Not enough. Without Archer's arm, he only had a tiny fraction of the Od he had at his disposal in his previous life. He didn't even have enough strength left in him to Break that last copy of Hrunting, but this was his last chance. He didn't have the strength to prolong the battle any longer. He started to divert all of the prana and flames he had left into that one last arrow. He would give it all he had to destroy this monster, for Natsumi and Illya's sake.

He pulled the arrow back as far as he could as he took aim, calling on Hrunting's unique properties to make sure that it wouldn't miss.

"Fly, Hound of the Red Plains, Hrunting!" Shirou shouted as he released the bolt. The arrow practically turned into a beam of red light as it rushed forward with explosive force.

Reborn could still see it. He could even track and react to its movements. He began to use his Sun Flames to push himself to the side, in order to evade the attack, only for the arrow to change its trajectory in order to follow him. Shirou was almost sure that he had him.

But right before the arrow would have hit, Reborn simply vanished.

Shirou was shocked for a moment before he felt something slam into him and he was sent tumbling across the roof. Pain shot through Shirou's body as he felt his arm break from the impact and he let out a gasp as he struggled to turn his head around to see what had hit him.

"Oops. Looks like I hit you a little too hard." Reborn said as he stood there, his entire body engulfed in golden flames. Shirou was left dumbstruck as the power rolling off of Reborn had skyrocketed. "Nice try. Maybe you'll do better next time."

Before Shirou could respond, Reborn pulled the trigger and his bullet slammed into Shirou's chest, and his vision started to fade to black.

"Shirou!" Natsumi shouted, starting to run forward.

"Don't worry. It was only a tranquilizer shot." Reborn said, before noticing Shirou's final attack and reversed itself in the air and was coming straight back at him. Giving a grunt of annoyance, Reborn raised his gun and pulled the trigger.

The massive beam of golden yellow light collided with the red bullet in midair, causing the both of them to explode into a shower of red and yellow sparks.

"Well, that was fun." Reborn said as he started to let his flames die down.

*Bang*

A yellow bullet came flying towards Reborn at unnatural speeds, only to be slapped out of the air by his tiny baby hand, still covered in golden flames. The bullet continued on, hitting the corner of the roof and blasting it to pieces. "Ciaossu, Kiri-kun. What took you so long?" Reborn said, as Kiritsugu stood there with a gun raised. Beside the man was Irisviel and Leysritt, and all three of them were glaring at Reborn.

"That isn't the question I think needs to be asked here, Reborn." Irisviel said as she stepped forward from behind her husband. The temperature was dropping all around them, and thin wires that glowed with an orange light flickered through the air around her. "Do you want to explain why you decided to fight with our son?"

"Aunt Iris?" Natsumi said, surprised to see her kind, motherly neighbor talking to Reborn in a tone that promised retribution.

"It seems like Shirou-kun took offense to the way I helped with Illya-chan's problem this morning. He was the one to pick a fight, not me. I was just using this as a chance to educate him a little." Reborn said, leaving Natsumi confused. What had happened to Illya that morning?

"You didn't even try to explain to him what was going on, did you?" Irisviel said in an accusatory manner.

"You didn't explain it to him either." Reborn countered. "Well, since you are here now, you can take care of all of this. I'm going to go take a well deserved nap." Reborn said, before going and hopping off of the edge of the roof.

After watching him go, Irisviel sighs. "That man never changes at all." She said before looking longingly at Natsumi and Shirou.

"Aunt Iris, what's going on?" Natsumi asked.

Irisviel walked over and pat Natsumi on the head. "I suppose we owe you a bit of an explanation. But first, we need to take care of Shirou. Would you mind coming with us?"

"O...Okay." Natsumi nodded her head, not sure what else to do.

This was going to be a long day.

* * *

**This chapter didn't really turn out the way I wanted, but I can't work up the will to rewrite it. Mostly because all that matters is the end result and because no matter how I write this I am going to have to deal with anal fanboys/fangirls.**

**People just can't really get their heads around the fact that if Shirou doesn't lose, then the story kind of falls apart. I mean, how do things progress if Shirou kills Reborn? The story just dies right there, along with any possible tension in the future, since Reborn is the Strongest. It's like if you had a story were Shirou beat up Allmighty. I'm not going to go in to whether or not it makes sense, because you just can't continue a serious story after something like that happens.**

**Of course, none of you give a damn about things like that.**

**Also, to everyone complaining about Bianchi not being able to be a Cloud because she is too obsessed with Reborn, have you ever looked at Hibari? His obsession over the school is at least equal to Bianchi's obsession with Reborn. Plus, one's flame types is not related to their personality.**

* * *

**In canon, there three different types of mutated Sky Flames.**

**The Flames of Destruction, the Flames of Restoration, and the Flames of Life (and the Oath Flames (sort of))**

**I'm expanding on that with the Snow Flames, the Flames of Dreams and the Flames of Iron, with each one being made up of the Sky Flame + another type **

**These flames can either be naturally occurring, or appear when a Sky's bond with their people of the second element gets strong enough. (Sort of how the Oath Flames in canon). Though the natural occuring ones are stronger than the pseudo mutated flames created by their bonds.**

**The Flames of Destruction = Sky + Storm : Users = Xana (Xanxus)**

**The Flames of Restoration = Sky + Sun : Users = Dino, Irisviel**

**The Flames of Life = Sky + Cloud : Users = Irisviel, Luce, Aria, Yuni**

**The Flames of Snow = Sky + Rain : Users = Illya, Irisviel**

**The Flames of Dreams = Sky + Mist : Users = None**

**The Flames of Iron = Sky + Lightning: Users = None**

**It also gives an explanation of why Irisviel was created, as her Famiglia was trying to engineer an individual with multiple rare flames.**

**I also hinted in this chapter that Shirou's flames are a result of things that he has been exposed to.**

**Sun - Saber/Avalon**

**Storm - Avenger's Cursed Fire**

* * *

**A lot of people seem to be unsympathetic with the Arcobaleno's curse because the Arcobaleno were part of the mafia. However, other than Reborn, Luce and maybe Fon, the other Arcobaleno weren't part of the mafia before they were cursed. Colonello and Lil were both part of the Itilian Special Forces, Viper was just a hermit, the lightning guy was a scientist, and Skull was a stuntman. None of them were part of the mafia, and none of them had any idea what they were in for.**

**The only one who had any prior knowledge about what was going to happen was Luce.**

**This is going to be important eventually because it makes Mammon more sympathetic, as she vents her frustration at Luce for leading them all to get cursed when she knew exactly what was going to happen to them. With Mammon having to join the mafia because there was no other way for her to search for a cure.**

* * *

Further Story Outline.

**Chapter 40 - 42**

Natsumi's father tries to see her, but is blocked by Kiritsugu, who gets pissed off when the man doesn't even realize that it was Natsumi's birthday, telling the man that she isn't his daughter anymore and to never come back.

After Natsumi's birthday party, Shirou, Natsumi and the others discuss what to do about the Vongola Rings. Natsumi is in favor of just giving them to Xana, since she doesn't want to have anything to do with the Mafia. However, after Shirou explains what exactly the Vongola Rings are, she reconsiders, not wanting to let something like that fall into the hands of someone like Xana, who believes in survival of the fittest.

They break up for training.

Natsumi is trained by Irisviel and Luce.

Taiga is trained by Shirou.

Yi Pin and Illya are trained by Fon and Kiritsugu.

Haru is trained by Sella and Leysrett.

Bianchi is trained by Reborn and Dino.


	8. Chapter 8

Drip. Drip.

"You holding in there, Leon?" Rebon asked his partner as he leaned back in his emergency bomb shelter. He was completely exhausted from his last maneuver, though still doing better than Leon.

Those weird flames had done a number on the little chameleon, who was now having to expel damaged tissue that refused to heal from his body. The blackened goo dripping out from his body onto the floor where it radiated that same unconformable energy as the flames that caused it. If it hadn't been for the little guy's ability to generate more and more body mass, so long as Reborn kept providing flames for it, then Leon's entire body would have been burned away. Reborn had never heard of it before, flames that left wounds that wouldn't heal. It went beyond normal Storm Flames.

It left him worried, but Leon was assuring him that he would make a full recovery… in a day or two. So about the same amount of time it would take Reborn to recover from his overuse of the Sun Flames.

It was a secret, known only among the Arcobaleno, a trump card for getting out of sticky situations. When pressed, they could draw on not only their own power, amplified by the Pacifier, but also power from their future selves. It manifested as the flames of their element completely eclipsing their bodies. The power of it was real, but so was the strain it placed on the body, and the cost it extracted from the Arcobaleno. Reborn had never once had to rely on this skill, but he supposed there was a first time for everything.

Reborn had known he couldn't handle that final attack normally. He couldn't have dodged it, as it was tracking him. Attempting to parry or block it would have certainly resulted in losing Leon to those red and black flames. Destroying it had been an impossibility at Reborn's normal levels, not if the item could withstand the boy's Storm Flames.

But by pulling out all the stops, Reborn had accessed enough Sun Flames to defy all logic, moving at such ludicrous speeds that the air couldn't even react to his passing, allowing him to completely avoid the attack. It was effectively teleportation. Though Reborn knew that it could be interrupted.

Reborn was putting on airs at the end there, acting all smug. If Kiri and Iris had chosen to start something, things might have gotten ugly. He was lucky that his reputation with them stopped them from coming at him seriously. With what he had just discovered about their son, they most certainly would have wanted to silence him if they could.

Reborn had finally found out Kiri and Iris's dirty little secret. Though it still raised even more questions.

Where in the world had the pair found this kid?

* * *

Natsumi watched as Irisviel sat with the sleeping Shirou cradled in her arms, an orange and yellow glow spreading from her to him, focusing on his broken arm.

"Is he going to be alright?" She asked.

"Shirou will be fine. Irisviel's Flames of Restoration are different from normal healing. Even his broken arm will be back to normal in a few minutes." Kiritsugu explained as he sat down with the girl and Gokudera. Hibari had already left, after being assured that someone would be sent to clean up the damages to the school. Natsumi had thanked him for helping her, but he didn't seem to care.

Natsumi shifted a little uncomfortably as she looked at the man she had known for most of her life, only to find out there were things she had never known about him. "Uncle Kiri, are you part of the Mafia?"

"...Yes. My wife and I are hitmen." Kiritsugu said after a short pause. "I hope that you will not think less of us. For people who are born into that world, it is hard to escape it. No matter how hard you try."

"You're in it against your will?" Natsumi asked.

"Irisviel and I were both born into and met inside of the Mafia world. She was a VIP of her Famiglia and I was hired to be her bodyguard. Over time, the two of us fell in love." Kiritsugu said, his face softening slightly. "Right after Illya was born, the Famiglia fell apart and we thought it was our chance to leave the Mafia behind and create a new life for our daughter. Unfortunately, the knowledge of the Von Einzbern Famiglia and the power of their bloodline was too valuable to simply be allowed to let go. We ended up having to strike a deal with the Vongola Famiglia in order to have a chance to settle down."

"The Von Einzbern Famiglia?" Gokudera mumbled. "I've heard about Famiglia. It was the most powerful group stationed in German, until it was taken down almost ten years ago by Emiya Kiritsugu, the Hitman Hunter."

"Emiya Kiritsugu?" Natsumi repeated, her eyes widening as she stared up at the tired looking man in front of her.

"He's an almost legendary figure in the Mafia World for being able to complete any job, no matter how dangerous." Gokudera said, seeming a bit enthusiastic about it. Then, seeing the stunned look on Natsumi's face and blushed a bit. "As a Japanese, I might have looked up to the man a little when I was a kid."

...He didn't have a clue that Kiritsugu was right in front of him, did he? He also never noticed the names of Shirou, Leysritt or Sella before. Did he even know their names? He wasn't in class for Leysritt or Sella's introductions, and Shirou never introduced himself to the boy either.

"Smokin' Bomb Hayato, huh? Take my advice kid, get out of the game, before it's too late. You're still small-time enough that no one would be gunning for you." Kiritsugu said, looking at the boy with pity.

"Grr, who the hell do you think you are, old man!? I'm not backing out! I'm going to be Judaime's right hand man!" Gokudera shouted, glaring at Kiritsugu.

"Don't bother, Kiritsugu. That kid is too stupid to ever listen." Leysritt said with a shake of her head and a shrug.

"...Ki...Kiritsugu?" Gokudera mumbled before looking at the man with wide eyes.

"Wow, he actually heard one word out of his teacher's mouth. Will miracles never end." Leysritt said drily as Irisviel giggled at the joke.

"Uncle Kiri." Natsumi mumbled nervously, regaining the man's attention. "Did… did you always know that I was…"

Kiritsugu's face went a little slack as he sighed. "Natsumi-chan, Irisviel and I never wanted you, Shirou or Illya to ever be involved in any of this. You were never supposed to have been the next head of the Vongola family. Like Reborn has doubtless told you, until just a month ago, there were three candidates before you in becoming the next Don. In fact, you hadn't ever even considered an option, since everyone thought the Ninth would be retiring before you were old enough to inherit."

Natsumi was glad that Kiritsugu and Irisviel hadn't secretly been plotting to make her a mafia boss her entire life, but she still felt depressed. Then something struck her. "Wait, you said that you were trying to keep everything from Shirou-senpai too. But if he doesn't know anything, then what was all of that from before?"

This time, it was Irisviel who answered her question. "Shirou's circumstances are rather unique. And until Reborn came around, Shirou hadn't had any exposure to the Mafia World." She said as she gently brushed his hair back, her fingers coming away red and moist with blood. "I wish we could have kept you all safe from it forever, but it's too late now. The genie won't go back into the bottle."

"...I'm sorry." Natsumi said. She couldn't help but feel like it was her fault. Reborn was only there because of her. That little monster had already been doing his best to cause problems in her life, and now he was causing problems for everyone.

"Don't be. None of this is your fault." Irisviel said with a warm smile.

As she spoke, Shirou groaned softly. "Mom?" He mumbled as his eyes started to open.

"Hello sweetie, how are you feeling?" Irisviel asked him.

"Tired." Shirou managed, seeming to struggle to keep his eyes open. He really must have been tired. Despite being held like a baby, he didn't struggle with embarrassment. Though as he woke up a little more, realization entered his face and his body somehow managed to deflate even more. "I'm sorry. Even after everything Reborn did, I just couldn't beat him."

"Shirou, that isn't the reason we are upset with you." Kiritsugu said, emphasizing the world 'that'. He gave his son a hard look, which caused the boy to flinch. "You acted impulsively on your own, you disregarded my warnings to stay away from Reborn, and worst of all, you endangered the lives of the other students with your battle."

"...I…" Shirou stammered, but couldn't think of any defense. He couldn't because there was none.

From the moment Illya appeared before him, her flames completely out of control after what was undoubtedly Reborn's doing, Shirou had not been in his right mind. The chaotic nature of her transformation had reminded Shirou of the other Illya. Of how his other sister had died, struggling with unimaginable pain as the artificial circuits that the Von Einzbern family had put in her in order to try to use her as the vessel for the Holy Grail. He could hear her screams as her body was ripping itself apart.

Illya's death had been the turning point in Shirou's previous life. The point in which he had once again fell back into his survivors guilt, which had sent him back down the road that Archer had once walked.

After seeing his new little sister in such a chaotic state. After hearing Reborn practically admitting to seeing her and Natsumi as nothing more than tools. Shirou had completely lost his ability to think about anything, save for the fact that Reborn was a threat to the people that he loved.

So long as Reborn had died and Illya and Natsumi would be safe, he didn't care about the consequences. He hadn't even stopped to consider those who would be caught up in the crossfire.

Shirou felt shame, realizing what he had done.

He was brought out of his brudding when he felt his mother's touch against his cheek. "I suppose we can't be that mad at you though. When we realized that Reborn had planned for this to happen and saw you on the roof, we barely managed to keep ourselves under control too." Irisviel giggled and showed the most innocent smile in the world. "If we thought that it was remotely possible for us to have beaten Reborn there, your father and I would have also tried to kill him too."

"Huh?" Natsumi said, confused at the disconnect between the woman's loving motherly expression and her violent words. She glanced over at Kiritsugu and Leysritt who both seemed to be nodding their heads in admission to the statement.

"Geez, and after everything I've done for you over the years." Half the people in the room jumped at the sound of the squeaky voice of Reborn as a ceiling tile fell away and he dropped down into the room, his hair moist and wearing nothing but a tiny bath towel around his waist. "Ciaossu."

In a flash of light, there was a sword in Shirou's hand as he spun out of Irisviel's grip to swing at Reborn, only for Kiritsugu to grab his wrist midswing, stopping him. "That's enough, Shirou. Reborn is not an enemy."

"You know, that statement might be more believable if you put your gun away." Reborn said flatly, eyeing the gun that Kiritsugu had trained on him with his free hand. Natsumi couldn't help but shift away, afraid to be caught up in another fight like the one before.

"How can you say that he isn't an enemy after what he did to Illya." Shirou almost growled as his eyes were fixed on Reborn.

"We were the ones who asked for Reborn's assistance in helping Illya vent her excess flames." Irisviel said, surprising Shirou and Natsumi. "While unpredictable, the Dying Will Bullets are one of the safest ways to deal with pent up flames."

"You… asked him to?" Shirou mumbled in disbelief.

"Yes." Kiritsugu responded. "Though he wasn't supposed to do it when we weren't present. Nor was he supposed to allow her to run across town to meet with you. Reborn arranged so that he could get under your skin and make you make a dumb decision. Then he sabotaged our phones in order to stop us from responding in time."

"It's your own fault you know. If you had just satisfied my curiosities about Shirou-kun's origins, I wouldn't have had to go to such extremes." Reborn replied with a shrug. "Though I have to admit, I never expected THAT to be what you were hiding. I can now understand why you were trying to keep in under wraps."

"Reborn." Natsumi said in disbelief as Reborn grinned at her.

"It seems that my No-Good student is really really lucky, bagging a super rare spellcaster into her Familgia." Reborn chuckled. The Emiyas stiffened at Reborn's words and flames started to dance on the rings of Kiritsugu's gun hand. "Don't worry Kiri-kun. I won't tell a soul. I wouldn't want to lose my exclusive access to my new lackey, now would I?"

"Excuse me!" Shirou said, too shocked to be properly indignant about what he had just heard.

"You lost a one-on-one fight with me. By Vongola law, you are now my lackey." Reborn said, as if it was common sense.

"Like hell I am!"

"Reborn, you can't be serious." Natsumi said, unable to believe what she had just heard.

"I'm afraid he really does mean it." Leysritt sighed as things seemed to be deescalating, with Kiritsugu finally putting his gun away. "That crazy bastard."

"Tell me lackey, do you know the Soul Dive ritual?" Reborn asked, staring straight at Shirou.

Shirou's angry expression flashed into a look of hurt. Memories of that last night with Sakura, when he had opened up his soul to her and completely lowered his guard, only to wake up in chains. Shirou tried to regain control of himself, but it was too late.

Reborn saw the recognition, he couldn't deny knowing anything. "Why do you want to know?" Shirou asked, narrowing his eyes.

He knew how to set up the ritual. Actually, he knew six different ways to perform it. Even if his time studying at the Clock Tower was limited, he had spent almost all of it delving into formula craft. The Soul Diving formulas were one of the first things taught to an apprentice.

"I heard from a friend once that the Soul Dive ritual could be used to help someone gain control over their dying will flames. Is that true?" Reborn asked back.

"...To an extent. It can be used to install a mental switch to turn them off and on, but control takes practice." Shirou replied cautiously.

"Good. Then I want you to use it on Natsumi." Reborn said with a nod of the head.

"EEH!? Me!?" Natsumi panicked.

"My job is to train you to become a capable Mafia boss, and to do that, you need to get control over your flames." Reborn said, keeping his eyes locked on Shirou. "Either Shirou-kun helps with his little magic ritual, or I fall back on my original plan and just repeatedly shoot you with Dying Will Bullets over and over again for the next three years."

"Three years…" Natsumi paled at the idea of Reborn continuing to run her ragged for three more years. He had barely been there for a week and she already felt like she had lost years off her life.

Shirou looked from Reborn to Natsumi, seeming to be considering it.

It was true that with a Soul Dive, one could install a mental switch for one's flames, the same way a magus would do for their fresh apprentice to help them get a feel for accessing magical energy. Not only that, unlocking such energy has many benefits for both the mind and body. It would also give Shirou an opportunity to investigate Natsumi's mysterious disappearing flames.

But at the same time, wielding such power wasn't without its dangers. To be a magus was to walk a tightrope with death. And there was no greater breach of privacy than a Soul Dive, even if Shirou did his best not to see.

"Natsumi. It's up to you. If you say you don't want to, then I won't do it. No matter what Reborn says." Shirou said calmly.

"...If I do this. Then you won't shoot me with Dying Will Bullets anymore?" Natsumi asked.

"If this works, then I won't have to." Reborn said.

Natsumi bit her lip a little before finally nodding. "Alright. I'll do it."

"Great. How long will it take to set up the ritual?" Reborn asked.

"That depends. How fast can you get me the materials?" Shirou replied.

That response actually got the ever so smallest twitch out of Reborn as he had flashbacks of Viper and his/her rituals. Effective as they often were in tracking down difficult to find targets, they had always cost an arm and a leg. Reborn had once been made to pay a hundred million to scry for a rather powerful illusionist. "What do you need?"

Shirou looked around the room and grabbed some paper and started to jot down notes. "If you can get me everything on this list, the set up only takes around three or four hours."

Reborn glanced over the list and hummed to himself. "Surprisingly cheap. I'll have everything ready for you by tomorrow morning, so we will take care of everything tomorrow afternoon."

"Tomorrow!?" Natsumi squeaked. She hadn't been expecting it to be so earlier.

"Why not? Your school will be closed why they do repairs anyways." Reborn said. "Speaking of which, I have places to be and things to arrange, so see you all later."

Then, quick as a flash, he jumped up, back through the hole in the ceiling tiles he had come down from, which was quickly filled.

"I really hate that guy." Shirou grumbled as he disappeared.

* * *

Illya wondered where her mama and papa had run off to in such a hurry. After Leysritt-nee had arrived back home in a panic, all three of them had dashed out the door, leaving Illya all alone.

Now, she was fine with that. No really, she was. She was a big girl, who could take care of herself. And besides, her Onii-chan had prepared a large and healthy lunch for her before he had left for school.

While she would have preferred to be eating it with her mama and papa, she wasn't about to go hungry.

Still, even one of her brother's delicious meals couldn't stop Illya for thinking over the weird morning she had. It wasn't something that was easy to forget, and Illya couldn't make any sense of it at all.

"I wish I knew what was going on." Illya said with a sigh.

"If that is your wish, consider it granted." The increasingly familiar high pitched voice said, causing Illya to give a squeak of surprise as she hid behind her chair, staring in the direction of the voice. "Ciaossu."

"Wh… what are you doing here!?" Illya said as she watched the 'baby' from behind her chair. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you got me into this morning!?"

"Sorry about that, but you can't really blame it all on me. I only unlocked the power that lay dormant within your heart. You won't have run off to confess your feelings for your brother that hadn't been what you truly wanted to do in your heart of hearts." Reborn said, earning a splutter and a blush from the girl. He chuckled, thinking how much more innocent this girl was compared to the rest of her family. No wonder they doted on her so much. "Tell me, you aren't feeling cold anymore, are you?"

"Huh? Well, no." Illya admitted weakly.

"Good. Then it seems you have successfully vented your excess power. You should feel a lot more comfortable, for a while anyways." Reborn said, steering the conversation.

"What do you mean by 'my power'?" Illya asked curiously.

"Hm? I guess it's only natural that you don't know yet. Your parents wanted to keep it from you until you were old enough to understand, but you are developing so quickly." Reborn said with a nod of his head. "As I told you before Illya, you are a very special little girl, a 'Magical Girl'."

"...HUH!?" Illya half screamed, eyes bulging in shock. "A magical girl! Really!?"

"Yep, that's right." Reborn chuckled. "Your mother, Irisviel was the Princess of a Magical Kingdom who fled from her homeland, eloping with your father in order to keep you out of the clutches of her evil grandfather. You were special, and that evil man would have done anything to get his hands on you."

It was basically the truth.

It had been the conception of Illya that had started the balls rolling that had led to Kiritsugu standing against the Famiglia. After all, the experiment happy Von Einzberns couldn't help but wonder at how an artificial flame-user, like Irisviel, made without any eggs, was capable of producing a child with a man.

It wasn't the normal outcome, where an individual capable of using the Flames of Life produced what was effectively a clone of themselves. While Illya was definitely more like her mother than her father, she still possessed traces of her father's blood, something that should have been impossible. The Von Einzberns had wanted to dissect the mother and child, in order to find out what happened, and Kiritsugu went on a warpath.

"Wait, does that mean I have to become a magical girl in order to fight against the evil grandfather?" Illya asked, seeming a little frightened by the idea.

"Oh no. Him and all of his men are rotting in prison. You don't need to worry about them. In fact, the world is pretty peaceful at the moment. No dark forces needing to be punished around here." Reborn said, dismissing the girl's worries.

That one wasn't entirely true. There were things growing in the shadows all around the world, but Kiri and Iris, or Shirou for that matter, wouldn't let any of them within the same postcode as their sweet little angel.

"Oh, that's good." Illya said with a sigh. "But um… who are you exactly?"

"I am the Fairy Home Tutor, Reborn. I was sent here to help your friend Natsumi gain control over her powers. You see, she is also a descendant of an old magical bloodline. She is the great great great great great granddaughter of the leader of a group of magical superheroes." Reborn told the girl. Still sort of kind of true. "Your parents wanted me to help you while I am in the neighborhood."

"...You don't look much like a fairy." Illya said, giving Reborn a look of suspicion.

Reborn chuckled to himself as he used his Sun Flames to create a flash of light around him, momentarily blinding the girl.

While she was blinded, he switched into his 'fairy' costume, complete with a sparkly dress, a leaf shaped hat and wings. At the same time, Leon transformed himself into a wand with a star on the end.

"Is that better, teehee." Reborn said in a purposely more twee voice.

"Oh, wow!?" Illya said, the little girl was eating it up.

"I normally don't go out like this, since it is too attention grabbing." Reborn said. It really had been a while since he had used that outfit. It sure made him feel pretty. "So tell me, are you ready to learn more about your powers?"

"Um… I don't know." Illya said, still hesitant. The morning's startle was evidently enough to keep her cautious, even after being tempted with her schoolgirl fantasy. Or maybe she just took after her father that way.

"Well, we can't have that. How about this, if you and your father come with me tomorrow to meet a wizard who will help awaken your powers properly, then I will do something special for you." Reborn said, waving the wand Leon in the air. "How would you like to go to the same school as your Onii-chan?"

Reborn imagined he could see cat-like eyes perking up on Illya's head at his final words. Oh yeah, she'd do it.

* * *

"You told my daughter what?" Kiritsugu said in complete disbelief after coming home to have Illya barrage them with questions about being a 'magical girl'. Irisviel went to distract the girl as Kiritsugu had words with Reborn about his practical joke.

"You said you didn't want her to know about the Mafia World, didn't you?" Reborn said with a shrug, still dressed in his pretty fairy princess outfit. Something that was making Kiritsugu actually feel a little ill.

"I fail to see how this is better." Kiritsugu said with a sigh. "You are only trying to entertain yourself. That is all you are ever trying to do."

"Maybe." Reborn said cheekily, before changing gears. "So tell me, where exactly you found your young spellcaster?" Kiritsugu's face went even colder as he stared down at Reborn. "There are only a few dozen half baked magic users capable of casting spells in the entire world, and the number of them who could be considered fully trained are all over three hundred years old and could be counted on my fingers. So how is it that Shirou-kun can cast spells?"

"Reborn, drop it." Kiritsugu said forcefully.

"No." Reborn replied. "My curiosity won't let me drop it. So either tell me now, or we can have this conversation with the entire Vongola Alliance present. I think we both know how that would go down." Kiritsugu's hand twitched, reaching for his gun, but stopping. "I forgave you earlier, but pull that gun on me again, and I will consider the contract between us nullified."

Even while dressed like a fairy princess, Reborn was an intimidating individual.

Kiritsugu bit his lip and his body slowly started to relax again. "I want a contract from you, swearing not to reveal it to anyone, done in triplicate."

"Fine." Reborn said, pulling out the contract papers, already written up, letting Kiritsugu read them before adding on his flame to finish the binding. "Now tell me, where did you find Shirou?"

"...I found him in the basement laboratory of the Estraneo Famiglia." Kiritsugu said after a short pause.

Reborn seemed momentarily taken aback. "Estraneo Famiglia. Weren't they the ones who created the Possession Bullets?" Reborn asked, though he already knew the answer.

The Possession Bullet was a part of a horrible set of times which allowed an individual to take possession of another's body. Something so fucked up that even the Mafia World called foul and made to expunge the Famiglia responsible.

Was Shirou a much older individual possessing the body of the young boy?

"If that had been the worst of their crimes, I could likely sleep better at night." Kiritsugu said with a heavy sigh. "During my infiltration of their base, I found a lab where they were performing experiments on children. Both kidnapped children and their own flesh and blood. The experiment seemed to revolve around an artifact from the old world, the human head of King Yama."

"...By King Yama, do you mean the figure from buddist myth?" Reborn asked.

"That's right. The story goes that Yama was the greatest monk of his time, and had nearly become a buddha. However, hours before he finished his final mediation, a group of cultists stumbled upon his cave and used it as a place for their ritual sacrifice of a bull. After spotting Yama within the cave, the cultists knew they couldn't allow him to escape, having seen their faces, so they cut off his head. However, Yama had been too close to enlightenment to properly die, having escaped the cycle of reincarnation, but at the same time, he had not been able to reach Nirvana either. He had become stuck in a hellish limbo, existing in all six worlds of suffering at once. In the story, his headless body took the head of the bull and placed it on his shoulders, turning into an unholy abomination that sought revenge on the people of the Human World." Kiritsugu recounted the legend. "As for how Yama's human head ended up in the possession of the Estraneo Famiglia, I have no idea. But after taking one look at it, I could tell you that it was the most evil thing I have ever seen in my life. Even with only one eye, its expression cursed all things in this world."

"What was the Estraneo Famiglia hoping to accomplish with the head of King Yama? What was the focus of the experiments?" Reborn asked.

"A cursed fire had broken out before I got there, but from what I could gather from the surviving notes, the experiments all revolved around one thing. They were trying to awaken the power and memories within the soul from before its reincarnation."

Reborn didn't respond as his mind was racing with what he had just heard.

Reincarnation. Shirou's skills and knowledge had come from another lifetime. He could be a magic user from the past, from before the decline of magic. Or he could even have been something entirely different. Not human. Buddhism would imply the six paths of reincarnation, the Human World and five others. He could even be the reincarnation of a Deva, or even an Asura…

EMIYA SHIROU WAS A GOD DAMN ASURA.

Not that it mattered. Reborn didn't care if Shirou was an Asura or the Devil himself. If he really did have knowledge from before the decline of magic, he represented a possible hope for those cursed by the pacifiers… Only Reborn had already royally pissed the guy off.

Well fuck.

Was this karma?


	9. Chapter 9

*Thud!*

"Holy cow Yamamoto-san! 102.3 mph!" "I thought his fast balls were ridiculous before, but this is just ridiculous. It's up 10 mph from last week." "Isn't the world record something like 105?" "105.1 is the highest officially recorded, but some say that there were a few off the record that were as fast as 108." "But those are the major leagues. Yamamoto-san is still just a first year middle schooler. Isn't this a bit much?"

With the school closed down for a day after some freak accident and the Kendo club going silent, Yamamoto ended up joining his baseball team to get some practice in.

"Hahaha, I bet there's just something wrong with the machine." Yamamoto Takeshi said, laughing off his teammate's excitement and praise as he reached for another ball with a heavy heart.

In just two days spent training with the Kendo team, Yamamoto had seen improvement like never before. Yet he couldn't be happy about it. The only thing he could do was compare himself with the others, and he couldn't help but find himself coming up short.

Shirou-senpai and his father had been completely out of this world, with Takeshi not knowing how to even begin to compare himself to them, but they weren't the only ones. In fact, if he was to compare his physical strength to the others in the Kendo Club, Yamamoto was almost the weakest, barely above Gokudera.

Ryohei-senpai, the captain of the Boxing Club had a level of physical strength and speed that Yamamoto hadn't even believed to be possible. Kusakabe-san, who was the same age as Yamamoto was also stronger than him, if not by the same unreal margin as when compared to the boxer. And then there was Natsumi-chan.

At times, tiny little Natsumi-chan showed a level of strength that could rival even Ryohei. When it first happened, Yamamoto could do nothing but stand and stare in wonder at her. He had felt a sense of admiration, seeing her pull so much strength out of her thin arms, seeing the determination on her face as she gave it 120%.

Yamamoto didn't know why, but he felt as though she shined more than all the others. It was like her strength was the most real. Seeing her determination, Yamamoto couldn't help but question himself. He felt like he wasn't giving enough, like he was dragging everyone else down.

*Thud!* 102.4

*Thud!* 102.6

*THUD!* 103.0

Yamamoto pitched fast ball after fast ball, ignoring the pain growing in his arm as he pushed himself to go harder and harder. His heart was pounding as he held the image of Natsumi in his mind.

He wasn't to be stronger. Strong like his dad. Strong like Shirou-senpai. Strong like Ryohei-senpai. Strong like her.

A gasp left Yamamoto's lips as he pulled his arm forward as hard as he could, trying to get a little bit more out of his throw, only to feel something give. His teammates watched as the ball went off course, bouncing against the ground a few times, before Yamamoto slowly started to sink to his knees, clutching at his right arm. It took a few moments for everyone to realize what had just happened.

Yamamoto Takeshi, who had become the baseball team's star player before the season even started, had just pulled a tendon.

* * *

Illya could hardly contain her excitement as her mama and papa drove her home from school. Not only was she going to be awakened as a magical girl, but she was also going to meet a real live wizard.

Illya wondered what he looked like. Reborn hadn't exactly looked like a normal fairy at first, so she couldn't assume that he would have the usual pointed hat and robes. Maybe he would also be in a suit and tie, or a professor like outfit. Would they even have a beard?

"Look, there's Natsumi-chan and Reborn!" Illya said cheerfully as she saw the pair in front of their house while they drove up. Though her smile disappeared slightly when she saw the silver haired boy with them, stuck in a glaring match with Sella and Leysritt. "The stalker boy."

What was he doing there?

"Ciaossu. Welcome back. How was school?" Reborn asked from his perch on top of the fence as Illya got out of the car.

"It was good, thank you for asking." Illya said as politely as she could, even though she was itching to get moving. "When do we get to meet the wizard?"

"Meet the wizard? Reborn what is she…" Natsumi started to speak, but Reborn cut her off.

"You don't need to hide anything from little Illya-chan. She already knows about the whole magical girl business and is going to get her magical powers awakened along with you today." Reborn said.

"Magical girl?" Natsumi said, seeming a little dumbstruck.

"That's right. Reborn-san told me about it yesterday. I'm a magical girl too." Illya said cheerfully before bowing to Natsumi. "I'll be in your care from now on, Natsumi-senpai."

"Huh?" Natsumi looked from Reborn to Illya, not sure what to say, until Sella placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We don't want Illya to know about the mafia, so just go with it." She whispered into Natsumi's ear.

"O...Okey." Natsumi replied with a nod.

"Well, now that everyone is here, let's set off to see the wizard." Reborn said as he hopped off the brick fence. Illya gave a squeak of surprise, but Reborn landed flawlessly from his eight foot drop.

"Where is the wizard? How are we going to get there? Are we going by car, or do you have a magic carpet or something?" Illya asked the 'fairy'.

"I'm afraid my magic carpet is at the cleaners, so we're just going to have to walk there. But don't worry, it's not too far. Just follow me." Reborn said gesturing for the girl to follow. Illya quickly made to follow after him, but was surprised when Reborn led her into their back yard and over to the shed. "Alright. We're here. Told you it wasn't far."

"Um, Reborn-san, this is just my family's shed." Illya said, pouting a little as she thought that Reborn was teasing her.

"I know. The wizard is inside. He's been working to set up the spell all day now." Reborn said as he started to knock on the door, his tiny hand producing a surprisingly loud noise.

They had the wizard setting up in their family shed? But that was where Illya's Onii-chan did his repair work. She hoped Reborn told the wizard not to touch anything in there. She didn't want her Onii-chan to be inconvenienced by his tools being moved around without his knowing.

Only, when the door opened up, rather than the old bearded wizard that Illya had been imagining, it was her Onii-chan standing there.

Shirou looked like their father as he stared down at Reborn with a hard expression, though the look disappeared the moment he noticed his little sister also standing there. "What is Illya doing here?"

"If you are going to be awakening Natsumi's powers as a magical girl, you might as well be doing both of them at once." Reborn said with a shrug.

"Magical gi…? Reborn, you didn't tell me anything about this." Shirou said angrily.

"You would have fought me about it if I did. Besides, Kiri-kun and Iris-chan already agreed, so stop complaining." Reborn said. Shirou glanced over at his parents. Kiritsugu gave him a nod while Irisviel giggled slightly.

"So that's why you sent twice the materials I asked for." Shirou grumbled.

"I hope this isn't going to cause any problems." Reborn said.

"No. Everything is ready."

"Why are Reborn and Onii-chan talking like…" Illya started, looking between the two until she glanced past Shirou and saw the massive magic circle on the floor and everything fell into place. "The wizard is my onii-chan!?"

"Um… surprise?" Shirou said with a slightly guilty smile.

* * *

Illya was pretty sure this was the first time she had actually gone inside of her brother's shed. Funnily enough, even as a young child, she had never felt the urge to venture into it, despite her desire to be near her Onii-chan at all times. Perhaps it was part of the place's magic.

Though for the secret workshop of a wizard, it sure did look a lot like a normal shed, if you ignored the magic circle in the middle of the room. Normal tools and scraps of electronics were everywhere, just as she had always been able to see from the doorway.

Once they were all inside, Shirou went to a mini fridge that he kept in the place and brought out a pitcher full of something bright red and a little thick, pouring it into two cups and handing them to Illya and Natsumi. "Here, drink these."

"Is it a magic potion?" Illya asked, looking down at it. She always wondered what a real magic potion would taste like. In some stories, they were supposed to taste all gross, since they are made out of things like frog legs and toenails.

Illya took a sniff and smiled at the scent of strawberries.

"It's just a milkshake." Shirou said with a chuckle. "Though I have saturated it with my magic energy. The ritual isn't so painful if you ingest it, rather than me injecting the energy into your spin or bloodstream."

"Is this going to hurt a lot?" Natsumi asked worriedly.

"It should only be at the level of an uncomfortable heat throughout your entire body." Shirou said with a shake of the head. Reassured, Natsumi and Illya started to drink the milkshakes.

They tasted a little bit on the metallic side, but they were still really good, and Illya couldn't help but smile as she drank her down.

"While we wait for your body to start absorbing the energy, I'll try to explain to you a little about what is going to be happening." Shirou said as they all sat down to wait. "I'm going to be using the magic energy you just brought into your bodies in order to form a temporary connection with the two of you, allowing me to move the magic around inside of your bodies. Using this, I am going to open up your own pathways and place a hypnosis on the two of you in order to install a trigger, allowing you to control when you turn your flames off and on."

"So we're just going to be able to think about it and 'flame on'?" Illya asked.

"Close. The triggers are usually images or words used to put you in the right mindset. Once you decide on the trigger you'd like to use, just tell me what it is and I will link the trigger inside of your mind to your flames." Shirou explained.

"Ah! I wish I knew this before." Illya said, panic spreading over her face. "Making up a magical girl's transformation chant on such short notice."

"Transformation chant?" Shirou said, not quite understanding what Illya was saying.

"You know, the thing I'm going to stay before I use my transformation brooch to change into my magical girl costume." Illya said, as if it was the most logical thing in the world. "By the way, when are we getting our brooches?" An awkward silence started to drag after Illya's question. She looked from her Onii-chan to their parents and then finally Reborn. Her tiny shoulder began to slouch. "Is… there no such thing as a transformation brooch?" She asked, more than a little disappointed.

Seeing his sister depressed, Shirou began to panic slightly. "It's not that there is no such thing. We just haven't made one yet."

"Really?" Illya said, perking back up.

"It's not really that hard. All you have to do is use formulacraft to store the clothing in an astral form and then anchor it to whatever item you want to use. You can add command words as one possibility for activating it." Shirou said with a slightly worried smile. "I've seen a lot of weapons, armor and other such items transported in that way."

"Is that how you carry your things around?" Reborn asked.

Shirou glared down at the baby. "Not exactly."

"Onii-chan, would you please make me one? Pretty please? It can count as my birthday present." Illya begged, looking up at Shirou with puppy dog eyes, just as her mother had trained her to do. Shirou couldn't muster up any defense.

"I… sure. Why not." Shirou yielded.

"Really? Pinky swear?" Illya said, holding up her pinky for him. After locking pinkies and completing the most binding of contracts, Illya began to celebrate.

"She really can just get you to do whatever she wants, huh?" Natsumi said, giving Shirou a look as he sank down in defeat.

"Well, since your birthday isn't for another month, that should give us plenty of time to design something for you." Irisviel giggled.

"I get to pick the design myself!?" Illya realized, further fueling her excitement.

"I think we are getting a bit off topic here." Shirou said, as he tried to reel in his little sister. "Whatever image or words you pick now can be overwritten later if you like, just make sure that whatever it is, it isn't something you commonly see or think about."

"Huh? Why not?" Illya asked with a tilt of the head.

"Because it is going to be your trigger. It would be bad if you made your trigger the sound of a bell and then every time the school bell rings you burst into flames." Shirou said, giving a vague example of what could happen. "Also, every time the trigger happens without you wanting it to, the connection will grow weaker."

"I see." Illya said, scrunching up her face as she struggled to think of what she would use as her trigger. "What do you use as your trigger, Onii-chan?"

"Well, I have three triggers actually. One for my magecraft, and one for each type of flame I can use." Shirou explained as he raised his hand, showing the rings on it. "For the 'sun' flames, I imagine a flash of light as a sword is pulled out of a stone." A small yellow flame appeared above the ring as Shirou spoke. "For the 'storm' flames, I use a goblet full of black tar falling to shatter against the ground." Red fire came from the second ring. "As for my magecraft, the hammer of a gun being pointed at my head being drawn back."

"A gun!?" Natsumi squeaked. "Why would you pick something like that?"

"I didn't. The man who first introduced me to magecraft did." Shirou said with a nostalgic smile. "Though it is something that is traditional among… wizards, using such violent scenes. My teacher had used a knife being driven into their heart as their trigger." A faint blue light came from Shirou's fingers before disappearing into the air.

"Why's that?"

"Because magecraft can be dangerous. A single mistake when casting a spell could result in the death of the one using it… Not that I use such dangerous spells!" Shirou quickly said, seeing the worry on his sister's face. "Besides that, the extra adrenaline that comes from fearing for your life helps get the energy flowing."

"I see. So I should pick something exciting that I don't normally encounter." Illya said, thinking things over. "Do we need to have a different trigger for each type of flame we have too?"

"Not necessarily. I tend to minimax my power output because I am trying to milk what I have for all it's worth. While you have two different types, storm and snow, your natural reserves are much larger than mine. Even if you leak a bit of the type you didn't want to use, it shouldn't be a big deal for you. As for Natsumi, I am pretty sure she only has a single type of flame, so she didn't need to worry about it."

"Alright, I think I got one then." Illya said with a sharp nod of her head. "How about being alone on a rollercoaster as it reaches the top of it's climb?" Illya had never actually been on a real rollercoaster, since she had only recently become tall enough to ride one, but she had been in a simulation of one at an arcade. It was probably close enough to the real thing.

"That should work just fine." Shirou said with a nod of his head. "The magic energy should have been integrated into your body by now, so we can get start…" Shirou stopped as he looked over to the magic circle he had drawn to see Gokudera leaning over it with a notepad in hand. With a scowl, he flicked a finger at the notepad, causing it to burst into red flames.

Gokudera gave a shout of surprise as he dropped the notepad, which was quickly consumed by the fire.

"Try that again, and I'll turn you into a newt.." Shirou said as he glared at the boy. The boy swallowed hard and backed away, though he was still eyeing the circle hard. "Don't bother trying to memorize it. There is a bounded field around my workshop. The moment you leave, you will forget all the details anyways."

"It's true what they say, a magician never reveals their secrets." Reborn chuckled as Gokudera started to grumble.

Shirou showed Illya where to sit inside of the circle and then sat in a space opposite from her. "Before we begin, I just want to warn you about one last thing. Once we start, you might end up seeing some… unpleasant things. It isn't anything that can hurt you, but try your best to ignore them."

"Okay. I'll do my best." Illya said with a nod of the head.

"Alright, let's start." Shirou took a deep breath and his hands touched two marks on the circle. The entire circle began to glow and an uncomfortable heat straight to expand outwards from Illya's stomach as she stared into her Onii-chan's eyes.

Illya couldn't say what was going on, or how it happened, but she suddenly found herself in a wide open space with a dark red sky. All around her was rocky dead soil, stained red with large streaks of black here and there. The air felt heavy and tasted of iron, making breathing difficult and her ears rang with the sound of metal striking against metal. Though even this seemed normal compared to the gears that were floating in the air or the multitude of weapons that were scattered about the ground.

Shirou's warnings to ignore what she saw were forgotten as Illya looked about the unreal world she had suddenly found herself in.

Then, something caught her eye. It was a massive stone sword, over fifteen feet in length and three feet wide, with an edge that seemed to be almost like a jagid crystal. After seeing it, Illya couldn't pull her eyes away, and even though she didn't physically move, she somehow felt herself gravitating towards it until she was right in front of it.

The broad side of the sword was as rough as ordinary rock, but as Illya looked at it more and more, she felt as though she could see something inside of it, blurry at first, but becoming clearer and clearer.

Illya saw herself, but not a reflection. The Illya inside of the sword was slightly older and was dressed in thick winter clothes. Though if that was surprising to Illya, then the sight of the twelve foot tall black giant behind her was terrifying. Illya turned her head around, fearing to see the figure that was reflected in the sword behind her, but there was nothing.

"Onii-chan, you'd better hurry up and summon something soon, or else you're going to die."

A shiver went up Illya's spine as she heard her own voice, innocent and cheerful, but saying such strange words. Her own laugh sounded strange and unnatural.

The image became foggy as the scene in the stone sword changed to another. It was that other Illya again, dressed in a purple long sleeve shirt and white skirt. She was holding what looked like a journal close to her chest and was crying.

"Grandfather was a liar! He never abandoned us! Papa had always loved me!"

What was this? Her Onii-chan had told her not to look, but he had never explained what exactly it was she was going to be looking at.

The scene changed again and Illya would have stumbled back if possible as the black giant was there again, more terrifying than ever with darkness leaking out of his body and his eyes glowing red. He gave off a beastal scream that shook the world.

Illya was glad when the picture was gone and spellbound as another image appeared in the sword. It was her again, or the other her. She was dressed in a strange but beautiful white and red dress with a white crown upon her head. She looked so much like a fairy princess from a story, or perhaps even a queen, as she radiated a majestic light.

Illya wanted to see more of this one, but like the others, it slipped away.

"Onii-chan look, it's a polar bear! Wow, I've never seen a real one before!"

The other Illya was back in more normal clothes and hard her face pressed up against the glass of a polar bear exhibit, a massive full grown polar bear splashing around in the water inside of it.

"It's so cute and fluffy. I want one. Onii-chan, buy it for me."

Buy a polar bear!? Was she crazy!?

The other Illya looked up, out through the sword, with a big smile on her face. Though after a moment the smile dropped and she seemed disappointed.

"What do you mean you won't get it for me? ...Sella and Leysritt would have gotten it for me if I asked them too."

Tears started to form in the other Illya's eyes as she said this.

"I miss them, Onii-chan."

Hearing the sadness in her own voice, Illya's heart began to ache. What had happened to Sella and Leysritt?

The question went unanswered as the scene once again changed and all sadness turned to terror as Illya heard her own screams of pain.

The other Illya was in a bed with an IV drip in her arm, the machines connected to her screaming like crazy, her body covered in dark red lines with her skin turning black around them. Patches of her white hair were missing and blood was coming from her eyes and mouth. Her entire body was spasming as it was racked with pain.

"Onii-chan, please! I can't take it anymore! I can't take it!"

Arms reached out, grabbing onto the girl, pulling her close, with one arm wrapped around her head. Then Illya heard the voice of a grown man, though she couldn't make out what he had said.

Illya could feel it. Something horrible was about to happen. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't as the screaming filled her ears, and then…

A hand came over Illya's eyes and she felt herself being dragged away from the stone sword. The last thing she heard before she was dragged out of that strange world was a horrible snapping sound. The other Illya had gone silent and only the sobs of the man could be heard.

* * *

Illya's eyes opened up to see her mother holding her close, a warm orange and yellow glow surrounding her. It was so warm and soothing that Illya's shaking body started to calm down a little. "Mama?" Illya said as she tried to make sense of what was going on.

"Illya, are you alright?" Irisviel asked. It was the first time Illya had seen her mother show such a genuinely concerned face to her. Everyone was there, looking at her with worry on their faces.

"I'm okay." Illya said, though she pushed her head further into her mother's warmth.

"She's shivering. Are the Snow Flames going out of control?" Leysritt asked in a panic.

"No. Her flames are stable." Reborn stated as he looked over the girl. "I'm guessing this is what Shirou-kun was warning about. She saw something that frightened her."

"Onii-chan?" Illya said, looking around the room to see her Onii-chan sitting nearby, a look somewhere between guilt and understanding on his face. "Onii-chan, what was all of that?"

"...Part of the Soul Dive ritual is that you get a glimpse of what is inside of my soul." Shirou said in the manner of a confession. "I was trying to work quickly, hoping you wouldn't get a very good look. I'm sorry it was so hard on you. I should have tried another way."

"That was Onii-chan's soul?" Illya said, unable to understand it. "But… what was with that dead world with the gears floating in the sky, and the giant black monster, and the other me, and...!?" Questions started pouring out of Illya as she tried to make sense of it all, but she stopped when she saw her Onii-chan recoil as if struck.

"I… didn't expect you to see that much." He said before swallowing. "Illya, I know you are curious, but… there are some things that I am not ready to share. Please understand."

"Alright." Illya had never seen such a pleading look in her Onii-chan's eyes. She could do nothing but stop after seeing it. Out of respect, she would do her best to not delve into her Onii-chan's privacy for now.

Though there was one thing she couldn't forget, that dress the other Illya had been wearing.

It would be the perfect base for her own magical girl outfit.

"We should probably check to make sure the ritual was a success." Shirou said, trying to change the subject.

"Yes. I'd like to see this too. Go ahead Illya-chan, wow us." Reborn said, allowing the topic to slide.

"Oh, right!" Illya said, remembering that she had just been awoken as a 'magical girl'. She closed her eyes and did her best to imagine the roller coaster cart moving up and up. She found it was easy, much easier than she had imagined it would be at first. In her mind's eye, she could see the cart moving over the top, looking out over the ground far below, and then…

Warmth rushed into Illya's body, tickling her senses… but…

"Um, I did it." Illya said, feeling a little embarrassed as nothing visibly changed about her.

"Yes, we can tell." Irisviel giggled.

"Congratulations." Kiritsugu said, causing his daughter to blush more.

"But, I don't really seem all that different." Illya said weakly.

"Maybe you should try it out a little." Shirou said, grabbing a wrench and handing it over to her. "Try bending this."

Illya gave the wrench a look before taking it in her hands and starting to try to bend it. She was shocked at how easily the metal bent. While not effortless, it had felt more like she was bending a normal spoon then a thick steel wrench. "Oh wow! I'm super strong now!"

"No way!" Natsumi said, just as surprised as Illya herself. Gokudera also had his jaw dropped.

"Hm, not bad. You might even be as strong as your father was when he was your age." Reborn said.

"Huh? Dad, you knew Reborn-san when you were a kid too?" Illya asked, looking to her father in surprise. Shirou also looked at his father in disbelief.

"...Yes. Though he went by a different name back then… and was a bit taller." Kiritsugu admitted.

"No, I'm pretty sure you are the one who's just been growing. You were a skinny little thing back then, and had the most amusing little scowl." Reborn chuckled. Kiritsugu didn't seem to find it as funny, though he didn't complain as his wife giggled and hugged onto his arm. "But super strength isn't the only benefit of the flames. Though the others will take some more practice and special tools to control. With the Snow Flame, you will be able to create ice out of thin air whenever you choose, and with the Storm Flames, you can break down almost anything."

"You mean I need a magic wand?" Illya asked.

"Something like that." Irisviel giggled as she held out her hand to show her daughter her rings. One of them started to glow with a white flame that had a slightly blue tint around the edges. "These rings are the catalysts that we use to control and amplify our flames." As she spoke a small bird made of ice began to form in her hands.

"Wow!" Illya said in amazement. "When do I get one?"

"Oh… um…" Irisviel paused, her face showing that she hadn't been thinking this one through. "You see, these kinds of things are actually really really rare so…"

"I've got one laying around here somewhere." Shirou said, surprising them as he moved over to one of the drawers in the corner of the room and started to dig through a box. After a few second of searching, he pulled out what appeared to be a pencil case, though when he opened it, Illya could see it was filled with dull black rings with tiny stones in them.

Reborn let out a low whistle. "That's quite the stash you've got there."

"They're just early prototypes. None of them are of very good quality, but they should be fine for a beginner." Shirou said as he fished one and presented it to Illya. "Promise not to try to use it without either mom or dad present to help you."

"Okay!" Illya said cheerfully as she took their ring. The ring immediately started to glow with a tiny white flame and started cooling the air around it. "Ah… the ring is a little big for me." Illya said weakly, as the ring seemed meant for a finger twice the size of hers.

"...I'll make you a necklace for it." Shirou said, picking up the bent wrench and calling a blade out of thin air. He cut off part of the wrech's metal handle and started to mumble to himself as he traced symbols with one hand. A few moments later, he was holding out a metal cord necklace for his little sister, much to her delight.

Reborn was surprised, not just by Shirou's admission of being capable of creating the rings, which only a handful in the Mafia could claim to do, but also at Illya's casual ignition of the ring. While the flame was weak, being able to light the ring's flame at all with just two weeks of training was an accomplishment. Was this the girl's natural talent shining through, or the sheer effectiveness of Shirou's hypnosis method?

Well, he supposed he was soon going to find out.

"So Natsumi, are you ready for your turn?" Reborn asked the girl, who gave one of her annoying squeaks. Something that he had to fight down the urge to give her a smack on the head for.

Beyond just behaving himself in front of Illya, Reborn was also making a conscious effort to not pour even more gasoline on the already burning bridge that existed between him and Shirou. While they had a rocky start, Reborn still hoped that he could work his way back in and perhaps secure some form of trust from the boy in the future. And he couldn't count on his enchanted auras to keep Shirou and Illya from noticing any odd behavior on his part.

So as long as they were looking, Reborn would show infinite patients for his No-Good Student.

"You've already seen the results for yourself. Illya is accessing her Dying Will Flames and is in perfect control over her actions. So, do you want to go through with it, or are you going to back out?" Reborn asked the girl. "I'm not going to force you if you don't want to. This is your decision."

...She had better not back out. It would be such a pain in the ass if she did.

"I'll… do it." Natsumi said with a small swallow.

Again, Shirou led the girl into the magic circle and asked her what mental image she wanted to use. Natsumi had chosen a spinning top as her trigger, since they were something that was easy to visualize, but you didn't normally see that often. Reborn could only smile as he heard her choice.

There were going to be a LOT of spinning tops in her future, if he had anything to say about it.

"Alright, I'm going to start. Again, try your best to ignore anything you might see." Shirou said as he took a breath and looked into Natsumi's eyes. A hand touched the circle and it began to glow.

Reborn wondered what Natsumi would end up seeing, and if it would be worth trying to get it out of her later. He had already passed up on his chance of learning what Illya saw, in order to hopefully appease Shirou's paranoia, but Natsumi was a much more open target.

But as Reborn was pondering these things, Shirou began to frown and the circle stopped glowing. "Something is blocking me." He said, sounding confused.

"Huh? What do you mean blocking you?" Natsumi asked, visibly confused.

"Hold still for a second." Shirou said as he reached forward and touched the girl's head. "Trace On." He mumbled under his breath as he focused his magical energy on the girl's forehead.

Shioru's eyes went wide, and then Reborn felt a wave of killing intent flow from the boy, directed straight at him.

"Reborn, there had better be a damn good explanation for this!" Shirou snarled, his sudden aggression taking everyone by surprise as Natsumi flinched backwards.

"Onii-chan?" Illya said, her voice pulling him back and reminding him of his surroundings enough for him to rope his sudden anger in and school his expression.

"What did you find?" Reborn asked the boy.

Shirou looked at Reborn before delivering the news. "There is a seal. Someone placed a seal right on top of her Ajna Chakra."

It took a few moments for that message to fully sink into Reborn's head, and when it finally did, he could only think one thing. "This explains a lot."


	10. Chapter 10

The moment his son gave the diagnosis, Kiritsugu took in a sharp breath before glancing at Illya and his wife. "Irisviel, I think you should take Illya back to the house."

"Huh? Why papa, what's wrong?" Illya asked, not understanding what had just been said. Kiritsugu wanted to keep it that way.

"Don't worry sweety, everything is fine. This just might take a little while, so I don't think your Onii-chan is going to have time to make dinner tonight. So how about we go and make something special to celebrate." Irisviel said, smiling down at her child.

"Oh. Okay." Illya knew that something was wrong, but she still took her mother's hand and left, along with Sella and Leysritt to help with the cooking.

"Gokudera, you leave too." Reborn said sharply.

"What!? But if this has to do with Judaime, then I should…"

"I don't want to have to tell Bianchi that I had to kill you." Reborn said forcefully.

"Reborn?" Natsumi was surprised by Reborn's open threat as Gokudera paled. Gokudera wasn't about to question Reborn any further and quickly left the room.

"Shirou, no one can hear or sense us outside of this room, correct?" Kiritsugu asked the moment the door closed. Shirou nodded his head, and just like that the dam broke. Waves of flames came flowing out of the rings on Kiritsugu's hands as he lost control over himself. "Timoteo, you absolute bastard."

Reborn didn't say anything as the man vented. Just like Kiritsugu, the moment he heard about the seal, his mind too went to the same place.

One of the secret techniques passed down in the line of Vongola bosses, first developed by the fifth boss, as a way to get around his Hindu religion forbidding him from killing his enemies. Though some might say that death would be preferable in some cases. While those with unusually strong flames might be able to hold on to some semblance of normalcy, the average individual would be reduced to a drooling vegetable in the few weeks before their body slowly falls apart. And according to their records, Timoteo hadn't visited the girl in over eight years. This was not good.

They didn't have any evidence that it had been the Ninth who did it, but they didn't exactly have many other options either. "I don't understand, what is the 'Ajna Chakra'?" Natsumi asked, seeing all three men's reactions leaving her more confused and frightened than ever.

"The Ajna Chakra, or third eye chakra, is the chakra point located just underneath the skull inside of the center of the forehead, right above the brows. As you've already experienced, when it is stimulated, it produces a strong survival mechanism which pushes you to the physical, mental and spiritual limit." Reborn said, referring to his own Dying Will Bullets. "If there really is a seal, it would explain why none of us could sense your flames whenever you were out of your Dying Will Mode."

"...Alright, so someone wanted to stop me from having flames. I still don't understand why everyone is acting so scary about it." Natsumi said.

"Natsumi, the Ajna Chakra is one of the seven most crucial points in your body for the flow of energy. To find that someone has sealed it is as serious as finding out that someone had cut out one of your lungs." Shirou said, his tone dead serious. "The Ajna Chakra does more than just produce Dying Will Flames, it is the point where the physical and spiritual body meet. If the flow of energy is obstructed in cases an enormous amount of damage."

"What kind of damage?" Natsumi asked, swallowing a little.

"Every kind." Kiritsugu said bluntly.

"Minor muscular and organ deterioration, weakened immune system, loss of physical coordination and the ability to regulate sleep patterns, damage to memory and basic reasoning skills, damage to the psyche… and much much more if performed on a child who is still in the process of physically and mentally developing. Things like stunted growth in both the body and the brain, total loss of ambition and an inability to feel safe. And that is just from a minor obstruction, to have a seal placed on it, it is a miracle you can even walk." Shirou listed off grimly as a look of growing horror spread over Natsumi's face.

"You're… you're joking, right?" Natsumi said with a pleading smile. She was begging him to just tell her it was a bad joke, but Shirou's face remained grim. Not giving up, she turned to Kiritsugu. "He's joking, right!?" Kiritsugu didn't answer. He just stood there, an expression of pure guilt on his face. "Re...Reborn!?" Natsumi cried, in desperation. The baby hitman had his head down, the brim of his hat hiding his eyes. "No way… My life. All of my problems are because of… No way."

"I can't believe I never figured it out." Kiritsugu mumbled, his hands tightening until his knuckles were white.

"Don't beat yourself up. No one would have guessed this. Believing the girl was just some kind of natural failure is a lot easier than believing that someone purposefully crippled her." Reborn said flatly.

Even now, he didn't want to believe it. He wanted to believe that Timoteo would have never done such a thing. But won't he have? If it was for the sake of the Vongola Famiglia, that man was capable of anything.

Looking at Natsumi and thinking about the situation, Reborn could even understand a little. Timoteo was supposed to have retired earlier that year. They had even split the Vongola rings into their halves in preparation for it. They would have already had a Tenth Vongola boss, if all the candidates hadn't died. Then, once Natsumi came of age, her natural talent for the Dying Will Flames would have made her a possible tool in a civil war that could have ripped the Vongola Alliance apart. Especially since she was female and there would be many possible husbands for her.

With a seal placed on her, not only would she be rendered powerless herself, the seal would act as a back door, to allow the one who placed it to get around the body's resistances in order to more easily hypnotize and manipulate the person who was sealed. She wouldn't be a threat, and they could easily use her later if they wished.

'Dammit Timoteo, why didn't you at least tell me!' Reborn shouted in his mind. It was far too late to try to fix things quietly and cover it up now. Emiya Kiritsugu knew. He knew that the child who had been under his care for the last eight years, who was almost like a second daughter, had been attacked in the most heinous way possible.

Timoteo was a dead man walking, unless Reborn himself interfered… Problem was, it wasn't in Reborn's own best interests to interfere.

"But you can fix it, right? You can remove the seal, can't you?" Natsumi begged, on the brink of tears.

"...I know a guy who is a specialist in the field of Chi manipulation and the Chakra system, but I don't know if we can remove the seal. Given the seal's location, it is more dangerous than brain surgery. If the seal energy bursts outwards so close to the brain..." Reborn couldn't bring himself to finish that sentence, not while seeing the girl's eyes.

Breaking the seal was impossible. Their only hope was to awaken Natsumi's own Flames and get them to wear down the seal themselves. But that was a catch 22, as her flames wouldn't be strong enough without first removing the seal. Not unless they got her an amplifier on the level of the Vongola Sky Ring. Even then, it would take time to slowly wash it away.

"I can remove it." Shirou said, shocking everyone.

"Are you sure?" Kiritsugu asked.

"Erasing the seal in its entirety is easy. I can guarantee no risk of harm." Shirou assured them with a nod.

"What do you need, and how long will it take to set up?" Reborn asked.

"Nothing, and I can do it right now. However… just getting rid of the seal won't undo damage already done."

"So, she's going to need some therapy… a lot of therapy." Reborn summarized, more than simply shocked at how Shirou could be so confident about dealing with something as complicated as a seal embedded near someone's brain.

Eight years of being developmentally crippled. It was no wonder she kept getting below twenty points on her tests. How the hell had she even managed to learn to read at all?

"You can really remove it?" Natsumi asked, seeming relieved by the sudden solution.

"Yes. I'll do it right away." Shirou said, but before he could start, Reborn stopped him.

"Hold on a second." Reborn said. "If you break the seal, then everyone will be able to sense it. People have already started to take notice of the girl because of her bloodline, but if they sensed what her flame was really like, this could get out of hand. Sky Flames as powerful as hers are rare, and the Vongola have enemies that might try to kill her if they could find her, now that she is the heir."

"You aren't honestly suggesting that we leave the seal there, are you?" Shirou asked in disbelief.

"Not forever. Just long enough for us to figure out a way to prevent anyone from discovering her flames." Reborn clarified. "I don't suppose you know of magic capable of blocking others from tracking her?"

"...What kind of tracking are we talking about?" Shirou asked after a pause.

"As many as you can handle." Reborn said.

Shirou closed his eyes and seemed to be deep in thought. "...The once was an enchanted scabbard that hid a sword from the scrying of a War God for a thousand years. I could probably rework the enchantment onto a pendant of some kind, with enough time and the right materials."

"What do you need?" Reborn asked, not even questioning the stupid levels of overkill as his mind tried to wrap itself around a spell used to hide from what was probably a literal god.

"Reborn!?" Natsumi shouted, interrupting them. "You want to wait!? You want me to just keep living like this!?" Tears were coming from her eyes as she half screamed at the hitman before breaking down and falling to her knees. "You have no idea what it is like to be cursed like this."

"...I do. I know what it is like to be rendered as helpless as a newborn baby. I have been living with a curse for almost thirty years now." Reborn said, shocking the girl. "I'll admit, if I saw the cure right in front of me, I might not be able to resist. However, if removing the seal only gets you into even more trouble, that isn't something we can risk. I'm sorry, but please live with it just a little while longer."

"Reborn?" Natsumi mumbled, not sure what else to say.

"If it helps, there are protections around our entire house to block most types of magical and mundane detection. Natsumi could stay here for the night and I can have a temporary solution for her by the morning while she waits for the pendant to be done. It won't be as strong of a shield, but it should at least stop people from pinpointing her." Shirou suggested.

"I guess that is a good compromise. Tell me everything you need me to get for your work... and also the cost of your services." Reborn said.

"Cost of services?" Shirou said, as if the concept had never occurred to him.

"While normally I would have my students cover their own expenses themselves, Natsumi isn't currently in a position to be doing so. But at the same time, I can't let her keep accepting freebies from you. It's bad for her sense of value. Those enchanted school uniforms you gave her would have easily cost fifty million yen on the black market." Reborn stated.

"Fifty million!?" Natsumi cried out in shock, the number was so insane that she couldn't even wrap her head around it.

Reborn really wouldn't normally do this. However, it was a necessary expense to help show serenity to a possible future asset for him. He would accept any price if it meant he could get closer to finding a cure. While Reborn had all the time in the world, and really didn't mind his situation that much, there were others for whom the curse was much more dire.

If it cost him a few hundred million to get even a hint on how to eventually break the curse, he would consider it cheap.

"...Since Natsumi is like family, I wasn't even thinking of charging for it, but if Reborn is willing to pay, then fine. I'll take five pounds of Leo's threads, half of it given to me by the end of the month."

"...Really? You sure you wouldn't prefer a few hundred million yen?" Reborn said, wondering how the boy even knew about Leo's threads.

"I don't want your bloodstained money. Some things are more important."

"...Illya-chan's birthday present?" Reborn took a guess, though Shirou never answered, and Reborn was left wondering just what he was planning on making the girl. With just normal clothes and some metallic thread, he had made some top quality flame resistance clothing. What would he be able to make with supernatural materials, like Leo's threads, which could ordinarily eat tank rounds without breaking?

And why five pounds? Given Illya's size, one would more than do.

"We should remove the seal." He said as he turned back to Natsumi.

"Alright, what do I need to do?" Natsumi asked.

"I need you to close your eyes and do exactly as I tell you." Shirou said, putting a steadying hand on Natsumi's shoulder. The moment that Natsumi closed her eyes, a twisted looking dagger appeared in Shirou's free hand, whipping upwards and pricking the girl's forehead, "Rule Breaker." The boy's voice echoed in the small room as the sickly rust colored danger caught the light in the room before disappearing. "Alright, we're done."

"D...done? What do you mean done? I didn't do anything." Natsumi said, confused.

"You didn't need to. It was just a lot easier for me to prick your forehead with the knife when you weren't expecting it." Shirou said with a little bit of a cocky smile.

"Huh!?" Natsumi's hand went up to her forehead and came away with a tiny single droplet of blood. "I didn't even feel anything."

"Think of it like getting a flu shot." Shirou said.

"Well… did it work?" Natsumi asked.

"Yes. I can already start sensing your flames." Kiritsugu informed her.

"I'd never seen a knife like that one. It seemed to have a presence of its own. What was it?" Reborn asked, his voice sounding casual as his heart skipped a beat.

The seal had been washed away by just a single action and two words. What kind of insanity was that? How did it work? What else could it do?

However, the response Reborn got was just a smirk. "A magician never reveals their secrets."

Reborn couldn't believe it, a possible solution to everything was being dangled in front of his eyes and he was being toyed with. The idea of forcing Shirou to answer him flashed through his mind, but he forced himself to behave. If a cure would require putting his life in Shirou's hands, making an active enemy of him wasn't the way to go. He had just criticized Natsumi for being over eager and rushing into things, but Reborn was on the brink of doing so himself. It was such poetic justice that Reborn nearly laughed.

Kiritsugu's eyes were on him, likely knowing exactly what was going through Reborn's mind.

Shortly after they were first cursed, as Luce was dying, Reborn might have done some things he wasn't proud of in an attempt to hurry along a cure. He had taken the families of people who might have known something hostage and squeezed information out of anyone who might have it. He had torn down and ransacked entire Famiglias looking for something, anything. He had been desperate, and in the end, it got him nothing, save for the fear of the entire Mafia World, something that proved valuable in later years, as no one dared to fuck with the 'Strongest Infants'. Skull in particular knew damn well that without Reborn's infamous reputation, he would have likely ended up on a dissection table.

Kiritsugu knew all too well about what Reborn had done in the past. It was no wonder he feared allowing Reborn to know about his son's unusual talents.

But force would get Reborn nothing here. The only thing he could do was be patient and hope to build up enough trust and sympathy from the boy until Shirou would willingly give him what he wanted. Time was not so critical this time around, and he couldn't afford to make mistakes.

"This is why I hate dealing with wizards." Reborn said, his tone joking as he shook his head. "Natsumi, now that the seal had been dispelled, are you ready for the Soul Dive, or do you want to hold off on it until another day?"

"I… feel like I should do it now." Natsumi said with a nod.

...Was Reborn just seeing things, or was she already standing a little straighter? The girl had an almost puzzled expression as she looked around, as if this was the first time she had seen her surroundings.

"Alright, though when I erased the seal, I also erased all the magic energy that I had put into your system. So you'll need to drink some more of my blood." Shirou said.

"Oke… WAIT! BLOOD!?" Natsumi shouted.

"Um… I meant milkshake."

* * *

Natsumi's heart cried as she stared out over the scarred world. Its millions of swords, serging heat and the taste of blood in the air, this was a world that simply could not support life. And the worst part about it, Natsumi somehow knew that this world, this scarred battlefield, was Shirou's soul.

She thought she might have even seen it before, in his eyes, back when he had first been adopted by the Emiyas. Back then, it had brought the young Natsumi to tears, seeing this dead world in his eyes.

What had happened to him? And how could he ever heal?

Natsumi didn't know what made her do it, but as the storm raged around her, she knelt down to the ground, placing her hands onto the dead soil. She willed her own energy out, through her fingers and into cracked and scarred earth, and when she finally pulled her hands away, there was a flower. A single flower, a solitary life in a vast sea of emptiness, but everything has to start from somewhere.

Maybe it would spread. Maybe this world could be healed.

* * *

"The food's starting to get cold…" Illya mumbled as she looked forlornly at the empty seats at the table.

"It's only been out for five minutes. Don't be so over dramatic." Leysritt said, rolling her eyes. The little girl's face turned pink at having been called out as her mother giggled.

"You don't need to worry. I'm sure everything is fine." Irisviel said with a smile.

"Are you sure? Papa and Onii-chan sounded really serious." Illya said.

"It is serious, but your papa and Onii-chan are very capable people. I'm sure that everything will be fine." Irisviel assured her daughter, even if she was worried herself.

While Illya and Sella had been kept busy cooking dinner together, Irisviel and Leysritt snuck away to prepare the luggage and travel plans. In just ten minutes, they had managed to get all the equipment ready and arrange for the fastest jet their connections could offer them for a trip to Italy. They would be there by the time the sunset in Italy.

If neither Shirou and Reborn couldn't fix this, they would force the Ninth to undo what he did, even if they had to drag him all the way to Japan, tied up and at gunpoint. And if he couldn't help the girl, then… Well, the Alliance was going to have to go through some major management changes real soon.

Irisviel's thoughts were interrupted as she felt an unfamiliar Sky Flame nearby, right before the door to the living room opened up and Natsumi and the boys walked in.

"You're back!" Illya shouted, surprising Natsumi by running up to her and giving her a hug, looking up at the girl with worried eyes. "Everything's alright, isn't it?"

Natsumi smiled down at her and started to stroke Illya's head. "Everything's more than alright. I've never been better."

"Really?" Illya asked, not entirely convinced.

"Kiri-kun and I might have overreacted about how hard it would take to remove the seal. Your Onii-chan is quite the resourceful wizard." Reborn said. "Though I am still going to call in a medical professional."

"Someone trustworthy?" Kiritsugu asked, probably on reflex.

"I've trusted him with my life before. Though I would suggest keeping a close eye on him, he'd never do anything to hurt a young girl." Reborn said.

Irisviel got up and stood behind her daughter, reaching around in order to pull both Natsumi into a hug, with Illya squeezed in between them. "I'm glad you're alright."

"Thanks." Natsumi said, blushing a little.

"Mama, you're squeezing me." Illya mumbled as she squirmed around, causing Irisviel to laugh and give the two girls one final squeeze before letting them go. "So, did you get your powers awoken yet?" Illya asked after regaining her breath.

Natsumi didn't reply, not with words, at least. She just closed her eyes and smiled softly.

All the adults stood a little straighter as her aura grew stronger, until a soft orange flame appeared in the center of her forehead. Her messy brown hair shifted along with the flame as she opened her eyes. Her normal brown eyes were practically glowing a bright orange that masked her pupils, which combined with her calm expression to give her an almost angelic look. A comforting warmth filled all of them as they watched her.

"A Dying Will Flame strong enough to manifest without a catalyst. Not bad, for a 'No-Good'." Reborn said with a cocky smile.

"You look so cool!" Illya said, her own eyes sparkling in admiration.

"Congratulations." "Welcome to the big girls' club, Usagi-chan." Sella and Leysritt said, raising their glasses.

"Thank you." Natsumi said, her voice much clearer and stronger than before as she smiled back at them.

"Well, while you all have your celebratory dinner, I'll start getting these materials Shirou-kun needs for his work." Reborn said as he pulled out the list Shirou gave him and gave it a glance over. "I still can't believe how reasonable it is. Every time I had to work with Talbot, he always asks for ridiculous things, like the fangs of an albino gorilla, the blood of a two headed goat, or a rock from the moon." He mumbled to himself.

The entire shopping list wouldn't even cost Reborn more than a hundred thousand yen, and could be pretty easily retrieved from local vendors. Reborn shook his head and started to leave, while his student celebrated her rebirth, heading in the direction of one of his local yakuza contacts.

Though after he was sure that Kiritsugu wasn't tracking him, he pulled out his phone and punched in a number.

* * *

Timoteo was tiredly looking over some reports as he sat in his armchair, where he had been sitting since breakfast.

He didn't get up much anymore these days. Years of stress and battle had done a number on him. His memories would sometimes drift back to his mother, Daniela, who had held his position before him. She had still had the beauty of youth when she retired. Even though she had been in her late fifties, she had looked like she was in her twenties up until the day that she died.

Timoteo, on the other hand, looked and felt like he was in his eighties, and had been that way for more than fifteen years. The antics of his 'daughter' Xana hadn't helped matters. Adopting her had been a mistake. He had assumed that she would have been easy to control, and that her Flames of Wrath would have been a valuable tool for the Vongola Famiglia. It had been, up until she started to get pissy about an arranged marriage to Enrico, Timoteo's distant nephew, and ended up finding out the truth about her adoption.

Timoteo had thought that taking her in as a child would be a stroke of luck, like when his own mother had found the orphaned Reborn in a bombed out house during WWII. Instead it turned into a disaster, with the Varia still barely under control after what happened.

Timoteo was too old for this. His 'Hyper Intuition' had stopped functioning years ago, the signal that was supposed to mean that his time as boss of the Vongola Famiglia was done. He had already picked out Enrico to be his successor, made the arrangement, and even divided the Vongola Rings, as was tradition.

But no sooner had he divided the Rings than things went to hell. Not only did Enrico die, but the other two successor candidates as well, leaving no one of age who could inherit the title of Tenth Boss, and to make matters even worse, the Vongola Rings were divided, and would no longer recognize Timoteo or his Guardians.

It was horrible. Timoteo and his Guardians hadn't ever been considered particularly strong, but with the power of the Vongola Rings, they could still assert dominance over others. Now, with that power lost to them and each of them getting on in years, they were left in an awkward position.

Timoteo needed an heir. Any heir. And that was when his past came back to haunt him.

"Boss, you've got a call from Reborn." Coyote said as he brought him the phone.

"Ah, thank you." Timoteo said with a smile as he took the phone. "Reborn, is it time for your report already?" He asked, his tone cheerful.

"I've suddenly gotten a lot of things on my plate, so I'm calling early." Reborn responded. "Timoteo, why didn't you tell me about the seal."

"Ah, I see. You found out about that, have you?" Timoteo said, his body deflating in his armchair as he said it. He wasn't about to bother denying it to Reborn. He had figured that Reborn would figure it out eventually, but not so soon. "You have to understand that we did it for the girl's own good. With so many heirs of different Famiglias being attacked, we needed to secure her safety."

That was a lie. The attacks on the heirs didn't start until over a year after he had sealed the girl, and she wasn't even actually considered an heir at the time. Timoteo hadn't wanted the unusually talented girl to cause civil disputes within the Vongola.

"...We? I suppose that means the girl's father wasn't ignorant of this dumpster fire you've dropped on me." Reborn said, getting an unseen wince out of Timoteo. "You sent me here with bad information about just what was going on, and that has had consequences. I hope you have a better lie to tell Kiritsugu when he finds you."

"Kiritsugu found out?" Timoteo swallowed hard. While generally cool headed and calculative, Emiya Kiritsugu was known to have a temper, and to throw all reason to the wind once he was worked up.

If he still had the Vongola Rings, then perhaps he and his guardians could stand up to the man, but as things were… He'd have to go into hiding and try to reason with Kiritsugu from afar. God, what possessed him to split the Vongola Rings!

"The Emiya family was the first to notice." Reborn reported. "Tell me Timoteo, do you have a method for removing the seal?"

"...No. I don't." Timoteo admitted.

"In that case, I suggest you start looking into alternative bosses." Reborn said.

"Reborn, you know that there are no other options. The Vongola Rings will not accept anyone who isn't from the Vongola bloodline."

"Then the Vongola Famiglia is just going to have to survive without the rings anymore."

"...Is it really so extreme that even you won't be able to make a passable mafia boss out of her?" Timoteo asked.

"I'll give it my best, but even if I can overcome this massive handicap, she knows what you did to her. Teaching her all the skills she will need is going to be incredibly difficult. Convincing her to join the mafia may be impossible." Reborn replied. "I've already made the contract, so I will do everything in my power to sway her, but just know that if after three years it still looks hopeless, I won't waste any more of my time."

"...Just teach her everything she needs to know. You can leave convincing her to me." Timoteo said, rubbing his hands together. With the seal already in place, he had a backdoor method for influencing the girl's mind. It didn't matter how much she hated him now, the moment she felt his flames, she would only be able to see him as her loving grandpa. If Reborn could teach her the skills, he could get her to use them for the sake of the Vongola Famiglia.

For the sake of his Vongola Famiglia, his family, he would do anything.


	11. Chapter 11

Ganauche III sat in his seat across from his boss in the limo as they moved towards the safehouse, fiddling with his replacement lightning ring as he started out the window. God, what he wouldn't do to have his old Vongola Ring back, especially tonight. The replacement ring was the best that Vongola's exorbitant budget could buy, but it still couldn't produce even 5% of the flames the Vongola ring had.

His son's wife was pregnant, expecting a healthy boy within the next few days. Ganauche wondered if he would ever get the chance to meet his grandson. The prospects seemed as bleak as the sky.

The sun would have gone down about an hour ago, not that you could tell looking outside. It was storming something ferrous and there would probably be flooding somewhere. That would have usually prompted the old farts who made up the rest of the Ninth Generation Guardians to start bitching about global warming and how they didn't have this shitty weather back in the day. Leaving the fifty-year-old 'youngster' to roll his eyes.

Honestly, Ganauche would have taken it if it would have killed this stupid silence. "Hey Boss, Reborn only just called in the warning eight hours ago. Even if they jumped on the first plane out here, they wouldn't get here for another few hours. Isn't a full six car escort a little much." Ganauche asked.

"As usual, you're too laxed." The Guardian of the Storm, Coyote, said, scolding the Lightning Guardian from his seat next to Timoteo. "The person we are dealing with is Emiya Kiritsugu, the Hitman Hunter. If you let your guard down, you'll be dead before you realize your mistake."

"You say that, but the guy is still in Japan and wouldn't have a clue where we are right now." Ganauche said with a shake of his head. "I don't even think he's going to be coming. After all, he's got a contract with the alliance that stops him from going after our members."

"That contract only pertains to the accepting of hits placed on our members. It doesn't cover personal matters." The Guardian of the Mist, Croquant, added his own two cents.

"And what even makes this a personal matter? Is he really that mad that the boss sent Reborn to Japan? If he was so against it, he should have said something weeks ago. He doesn't have a reason to come after us." Ganauche said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat.

"He'll come, and we have to be gone before he gets here." Timoteo said smoothly.

"Why!? Why would he come!? What is it that you aren't telling me!?" Ganauche barked.

"Ganauche." Coyote said in a warning tone.

"You all always do this! You don't tell me anything! I'm not some kid, I'm fifty goddamn years old and the Guardian of Thunder! I've been the Guardian of Thunder since I was ten! I'm supposed to be your shield! So when are you going to start treating me like it and start telling me what the hell is going on!?" Ganauche shouted, slamming one hand into the bullet proof glass hard enough to crack it. "What did you do to piss Emiya off?" Tension was rising in the car as Ganauche glared at his boss. "I've met Emiya. He might have himself a reputation, but he is more of a bleeding heart than a cold blooded killer. So tell me, what did you do? Because right now, the only thing I can think of that would cause that man to drop everything and hunt us down is that you tried to kidnap his daughter. Please Timoteo, please tell me you didn't do that. Please tell me this is just one giant misunderstanding."

"I didn't try to kidnap his daughter. The contract between us would have crippled me if I had. Kiritsugu has somehow found out about something I did years ago." Timoteo said with a sigh.

"What? What did you do?" Ganauche asked, his voice almost pleading, but he got no reply. He hated it when the boss was like this.

Ganauche was willing to give his life for this strange family of his, but Timoteo refused to share his burdens with anyone. He had always been quick to share a smile, but would become tight lipped about anything that didn't match his kind man persona. At times, it made Ganauche wonder if the man really cared about them at all.

"Boss, we're here." Their driver said as they pulled up to the entrance to the Vongola's secret underground stronghold. To the casual observer, it would appear to be nothing but a grape field with a lone single story house in the center of it. But underneath was a massive complex with the best that money can buy of ever imaginable necessity.

After the cars all came to a stop, Visconti, Brabanter and Nie Brow Jr. all got out of their respective cars and into the pouring rain, as the usual guy came out of the house to meet them. Ganauche almost pitied the young man as he was forced to come out into the mud and rain, until Croquant started to freak out.

The Mist Guardian grabbed his radio and started to shout into it. "Visconti, Brabanter and Nie, get out of there! Do you hear me! Get out of…!"

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

All seven cars, including the one the Guardian and the Ninth were in all were knocked around by a chain of high yield explosives going off, sending them spinning through the air, at the same moment the Mist Flames dispersed from over the guy walking out to meet them to reveal Emiya Kiritsugu.

The man erased the distance between himself and Nie before the Sun Guardian even had time to realize what was going on and delivered an uppercut in the jaw that set Nie rocketing up into the air.

As their car skidded to a hult on its roof, Ganauche was treated to a sight of his fellow Guardian up in the air in the brief moment before the shots were fired. Four glowing blue and yellow bullets, each one piecing one of the man's four limbs. Each shot moved far faster than a normal bullet, a consequence of Kiritsugu's Sun Flames, while the Rain Flames meant that he could very effectively shoot through other types of Dying Will Flames.

Visconti shouted and pulled out his gun as Brabanter started to charge forward, drawing his sword. The Cloud Guardian started to open fire on the Hitman Hunter, but the bullets never made it. As blue flames materialized on his hand, a sphere seemed to appear around Kiritsugu, as the droplets of rain suddenly stopped in midair after coming within ten feet of him. Visconti's bullets hit this invisible sphere before slowing down to a snail's pace and then stopping entirely.

Brabanter tried to push through it, but his usual fast paced movements were gone as, from an outside perspective, his every step moved in slow motion. Bright yellow flames appeared and Kiritsugu moved in at high speeds, grabbing Brabanter's arm before slamming his elbow with the butt of his gun, snapping the bone as his arm twisted at a horrible angle. The gun came back around as Kiritsugu pistolwhipped the man in the face, resulting in a spray of blood as his nose was bashed in and teeth came flying out of his mouth.

"Dammit!" Ganauche shouted, pulling out his own gun as he started to kick the door of the car, trying to open it, only to find a layer of ice starting to crawl up the sides of the door frame.

Growling, Coyote pointed his own gun at the door and shot a Storm Flame infused round at it, burning a large hole in it. "Move!" He shouted, grabbing onto the Ninth and trying to carry the man out through the hole, quickly followed by Ganauche and Croquant as ice slowly closed over the hole.

Though Ganauche quickly realized that they hadn't managed to escape, they had been allowed to get out in order to make them easier to get at. All the other cars were already covered completely in a thick layer of ice.

Visconti was already on the ground, disarmed and with a bullet wound in both his hands and his knee, as Kiritsugu turned his attention to what remained of the Guardians.

"Get the boss out of here!" Ganauche shouted, raising his gun and started to fire. He might as well not have bothered. The bullets practically stopped moving after entering Kiritsugu's area of influence. The Hitman retaliated by raising his own gun and returning fire.

Ganauche panicked, and used as much Thunder Flames as his current ring could generate in order to form an electromagnetic barrier to stop the bullet, only for the Rain Flames on Kiritsugu's shot to punch a hole in the shield before slamming into Ganauche's shoulder.

As the Thunder Guardian's body hit the ground, a thin cord grappled onto his leg, ice rapidly spreading out from it as it glowed a pale white and blue.

Not giving up yet, Ganauche tried to pull his gun around for a final shot, but the cord got his gun too and the ice encased it in moments.

Kiritsugu aimed his gun at the retreating forms of Timoteo and Coyote, Coyote helping to support their boss as he struggled to make an escape, before pulling the trigger. Ganauche's heart jumped up into his throat as the bullet flashed through the air, only for it to pass straight through them. A mist illusion.

Hidden in a mist shroud, the real Timoteo and what remained of his able Guardians were trying to make it into the grape field, towards an emergency access hatch that lead to a bunker hopefully strong enough to last them until help arrived.

"Hurry sir. My illusion won't distract them for long." Croquant said as they moved as fast as Timoteo's legs would allow, his hand gripping his walking cane weapon tightly as he struggled to gather enough Dying Will Flames to help him keep running.

However, as they made it to the hatch, Timoteo's flames wilted as their hopes were dashed. The entire door was encased in a five foot thick layer of ice.

"Get down!" Coyote shouted, pushing his boss out of the way as cords that had gone unseen till that moment shot up out of the ground all around them. Coyote used his Storm Flames to burn away the cords, but Croquant wasn't so lucky. His leg was caught and he was dragged away into the dark of the night, screaming as ice spread across his body. "Do you think you are going to get away with this, Emiya!?" Coyote shouted into the night, his words drowned out by the heavy rain. "After what you did here today, you and your family will never be allowed a moment of rest!"

His only response was a bullet that slammed into the side of his face, passing through one cheek and out the other, as it smashed his false teeth into pieces.

"Coyote!" Timoteo shouted as his old friend fell to the ground, clutching at his ruined face. Another two shots came, hitting the downed man's arms, rendering them useless.

He then turned in the direction that the bullets had come from, raising his cane, glowing with the Flames of the Sky in order to somewhat reveal the figure in the darkness.

Before the Ninth could act, the bullet struck his fingers, blasting the middle one off and forcing him to let go of his cane. A second bullet hit the cane itself as it was still falling from Timoteo's hand, sending it spinning through the air into the shadows of the grape vines. Then a third bullet entered into his knee, sending him falling to the ground.

As Timoteo lay there on the ground, Kiritsugu came straight up to him and put his gun to the man's forehead. "Considering that we caught you running, I'm guessing you know why we are here." Kiritsugu said, his voice betraying just how livid he was, though the rain matting his hair to his head made him look like her was more mournful than usual.

"You were waiting for us? How?" Timoteo said in disbelief.

"We borrowed a military jet. More than three times faster than commercial planes. We've been waiting for you to arrive for three hours." Irisviel said as she came out as well. The white haired woman seemed to glow in the dark, even through the rain as she approached, her arms crossed under the chest. The threads which she used to carry her Flames shifted about her slowly as they tested the air, searching for any others who might be hiding nearby. "Because you were so slow, we are going to miss having breakfast with our children." She smiled, but her ruby eyes were as cold as Kiritsugu's black one's.

"Regardless of what you do here, it won't change anything." Timoteo said. "You should know that I don't have the power to safely remove the seal."

"...She was five years old." Kiritsugu growled. "She was barely five years old, and you crippled her, you son of a bitch. How could you?"

"...If she had been born a few years earlier, or a few years later, she would have been a blessing to the Famiglia, a child with so much raw potential. But because of when she was born, she instead represented a threat to the Vongola Famiglia. When I first saw her, I could only think that she would turn out just like my mother. That she would cause a power struggle that would tear the Vongola apart." Timoteo said before pausing. "...That was the reason I decided to fulfill Iemitsu's request to seal his daughter's flames."

"Iemitsu's request?" Irisviel said, seeming dumbstruck. Kiritsugu also tensed up, though Timoteo saw in the man's eyes that he had his suspicions.

"Iemitsu enjoyed having his holiday home away from the Mafia World, with his small house and pretty wife. A flame active daughter was a threat to that happiness he had stashed away for himself. So he asked me to seal the girl's flame, so that she wouldn't cause problems for him. I suppose we should just be glad he didn't arrange for an 'accident' to happen instead." Timoteo said, as if it was unrelated to him.

The crimson Flames of the Storm lit up on Kiritsugu's ring, as he glared down at the old man. "Do you think that throwing Iemitsu under the bus will somehow change what you did?"

"What I did, I did for Vongola." Timoteo said, closing his eyes and lowering his head.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow your brains out." Kiritsugu asked.

"You won't kill me. You haven't killed anyone yet tonight, and not because you couldn't. You don't want to do anything that would release us from our end of the contract." Timoteo said with an unusual amount of certainty, considering the situation he found himself in. "Besides, if I die, then the power vacuum left by my passing will cost the lives of hundreds of others. I know that is the last thing you want."

Kiritsugu glared at the man, but slowly began to lower his gun.

*BANG!*

Timoteo let out a gasp of surprise as alarm bells went blaring off in his head. The crimson bullet, charged with the disintegrating properties of the Storm Flame, was fired right between the old man's legs, burning away his manhood.

If Timoteo was in pain before, now he was going into complete shock as his hands moved towards the bleeding hole between his legs.

"I will allow Reborn to stay to try to undo what you did, but if you or anyone who works for you enters Namimori ever again, I will hunt you down and finish what I started here tonight. And pass the message on to Iemitsu that the same applies to him. If I ever see him again, he dies." Kiritsugu said coldly as he turned and walked away, his wife falling in tow beside him, humming to herself until the two disappeared into the stormy night, leaving the man a little less than a man.

* * *

**The main power difference between Shirou and Reborn is a matter of quantity rather than quality or skill.**

**If base canon Shirou (no Saber, Rin or Archer's arm paying for his magecraft) had say 135 units of power, Rin would be around 5,000 units, Servant Archer would be 20,000 units and Reborn would be 100,000 units. Reborn's Pacifier basically hooks him up to what is probably the World Tree, putting him on the level of some Counter Guardians.**

**However, once Shirou gets the Vongola Storm Ring, suddenly he has an artifact that generations around half as much power as Reborn's pacifier. The balance of power shifts.**

* * *

**Emiya Shirou (Without Vongola Storm Ring)**

**Strength: E+**

**Endurance****: E**

**Agility: E+**

**Mana: F **

**Luck: E**

* * *

**Choice Games Canon Tsuna**

**Strength: A (He can punch someone through a building made of metal that is 20 times harder than steel.)**

**Endurance: A (With his cloak, he can withstand multiple attacks capable of leveling buildings listed above)**

**Agility: A+**

**Mana: A (Can produce enough flames to fuel a machine capable of teleporting an entire building and the people within it)**

**Luck: F- (Let's be real, he has the worst luck)**

* * *

**Reborn**

**Strength: A+ (He's stronger than Tsuna)**

**Endurance: B (He also has Sun Flames for high speed regeneration, any damage that doesn't instantly kill him will simply disappear.)**

**Agility: A+++ (Sun Flames specialize in speed)**

**Mana: EX (The pacifiers are stronger than the Vongola Rings, and the babies were altered to better sync with them)**

**Luck: At least a B (He can consistently get Jackpots on a slot machine without cheating)**

* * *

**My point is, using just what he has know, Shirou is beyond human. But later on, he will get even stronger.**


	12. Chapter 12

Shirou was standing in a kitchen, rhythmically cutting carrots as a pot of half made stew was boiling on the stove. If you strained your ears, you could just hear the sounds of rainfall over the bubbling stew. Shirou looked lost in his own little world as he performed the simple task, until the sound of a doorbell brought him out of his trance.

Lowering the stove's flame, Shirou put down his cutting knife and headed to the front door, opening it to find a young girl with dark purple hair, one around Natsumi's age. She just stood there, her eyes hidden by her bangs as the rain poured down on her. She was completely soaked through and shivered slightly from the cold, but she never said anything.

Shirou looked at her uncomprehendingly as he stepped to the side to let her in.

Natsumi watched it all play out before her, unable to understand what it was that she was seeing, or the sadness and guilt that came with it. But as the dream faded away, she could have sworn she heard Shirou's voice.

'I was the one who neglected her.'

* * *

Natsumi stretched her arms out as she started to come awake. The dream had been strange, seeming all too crisp and real. Though in all honesty, Natsumi simply felt too good to care.

She reached out for her alarm clock to check the time, only to remember that she wasn't in her own room. Since the Emiya residence didn't have a guest room, and they didn't want Natsumi to be forced to sleep on the coach, Shirou had offered her his room for the night.

Natsumi had tried to decline, but Shirou had said he was probably going to be working all night to modify her clothes to resist 'scrying', some kind of magical way of finding people.

Perhaps it was because the room smelled of Shirou that her dreams had drifted to him…

Natsumi shook that thought out of her head before looking about for where Shirou could keep his clock, finding it on a nearby table. While Shirou was a rather simple individual, his room was still fairly cluttered with toys and decorations, compliments of his mother. He had never seen the need for anything, but he never turned away anything Irisviel or Illya pushed on to him, even if he never used them or looked at them.

The clock said it was still 6:15. So the sun hadn't risen yet. Still, Natsumi felt too well rested to try going back to sleep.

She couldn't remember ever feeling this well rested.

Kicking her legs off the bed, she changed from her pajamas back into her clothes from the day before, then snuck out of the room and then out into the Emiyas' backyard.

Natsumi smiled as she smelt the early summer morning air and listened to the chirping of the birds, feeling a soft breeze against her skin. It was like she was experiencing it all for the first time. Like she had lived her entire life with a muddy filter over her life and only now that the seal had been removed could she experience the world for what it really was. For the first time in known memory, it simply felt good to be alive.

On a whim, she laid down on the ground with her arms spread wide, enjoying the tickling feeling of the grass brushing against her arms and legs. Then she closed her eyes and imagined the spinning top.

The warm feeling flowed out, permeating through her entire body. The rush of energy under her control, giving her a feeling of strength unlike any other. Natsumi couldn't help but just bathe herself in the feeling.

She didn't even notice Reborn sitting in a nearby tree, one leg over the other, watch her.

The little hitman couldn't help but smile as he saw the girl's soft orange flame, or the smallest flickers of yellow and red that were within it. Something that Reborn had been hoping to see soon, but hadn't been expecting this early.

While there were the seven basic elements of the Dying Will Flame, Sky, Sun, Storm, Thunder, Rain, Cloud, and Mist, each with their own effects, the Sky was the most unusual, in that, under the right circumstances, it could mix with the others, producing an entirely new type of flame.

The Flames of Restoration, the Flames of Wrath, the Flames of Steel, the Flames of Snow, the Flames of Life, and the Flames of Dreams. Six types of deviant Sky Flames, each one representing a mixture of the Sky and another element, and each one more effective than the original, if more costly. The Flames of Wrath could destroy better than the normal Storm. The Flames of Restoration could heal deeper than those of the Sun. The Flames of Snow absorbed more than the Rain.

And while these types of rare flames can appear by themselves, like with Illya and Iris, they can also appear as the consequence of someone with an extremely pure Sky Flame forming a deep bond with someone of the corresponding elements, if not achieving quite the same degree of power.

After the Soul Dive ritual, when Shirou opened up his soul to Natsumi, the bond that formed was more deep than even Reborn had suspected. Now, Natsumi was starting to show the beginning signs of developing her own pseudo Wrath and Restoration Flames. As well as showing just how high quality Natsumi's Sky Flames were, it also meant that Shirou definitely met the requirements for becoming Natsumi's Guardian, and then some.

Natsumi had the seal removed, her control over her flame had progressed by at least three years, already surpassing Dino's control after training with Reborn for ten years, and she had secured the partnership of a very unique spellcaster. A good job for just a single day. All that was left for Reborn to do now is to help her establish links with five more Guardians and assist in her therapy, as well as teach her how to balance books, if they couldn't find someone to do that for her.

And while Reborn hadn't been allowed to instill any chaos in the preceding events, that wasn't to say that the day had been without its storms. At least, not if you count the end of the day as being past midnight in Italy.

Reborn was just starting to exchange notes with Lal Mirch on what had happened and had to admit that there was an amount of justice in it. Timoteo had crippled a five year old girl in order to keep the Vongola Famiglia strong, so Iris and Kiri had crippled him, all of his Guardians, and thirty members of their senior staff, hurting the Vongola Famiglia quite a bit. While none were in a life threatening condition, it sounded like they had broken nearly two hundred bones between them all. Each and every one of the Guardians was going to need to go through some serious surgery and it was unlikely that Timoteo would ever be able to walk again, nor would Coyote ever regain use of his arms. Timoteo was also going to have to figure out how to hold a pen without his middle finger.

The funniest part was, there was nothing they could do in retaliation. Since they didn't kill anyone, Kiri and Iris didn't technically do anything that would release the Vongola Alliance leaders from their end of the Geass Contract. So if any of the other members of the Alliance tried to retaliate against them, they would all suffer the rebound of the contract, crippling all of them, or maybe even killing them, considering some of their advanced ages.

It was clearly written down that any personal matter had to remain a personal matter, and no other members of the Alliance could get involved. Meaning that if Timoteo wanted to do something about it, he would have to do it himself, with his now single usable leg.

He couldn't even go to outside help, because if he placed a hit or ordered an attack on the Emiyas, then he himself would have to hunt down the person who ordered it or else suffer the contract's rebound.

It was amusing, how the contract had been set up to basically place no restrictions on the Emiya's at all, save for the required work, while at the same time making them almost untouchable by all those who had signed the contract, i.e. the entire Vongola Alliance heads, with the exception of Dino, who had been too young at the time. It was almost suspicious, leading Reborn to believe that Natsumi's grandfather had set the contract up with the intention of having the Emiyas protect his granddaughter from the Vongola Famiglia itself. It sounded like something that Old Lion would do.

Daniela had known what she was doing when she left him in charge of the CEDEF before she retired, to try to carry on the ideal left behind by the Vongola Primo. A pity his son never seemed to show the same convictions as him. Perhaps Iemitsu had been too talented for his own good, or maybe it was because he never experienced the World War, but he never developed his old man's sense of morality. To use his strength to protect the weak, rather than just amusing himself at his subordinates expense.

Oh great, now Reborn was starting to think like an old fart, complaining about young people these days. Wasn't like he could claim to be a saint. He picked on little kids for entertainment. Maybe Reborn had just been a bad influence on the man growing up. Iemitsu had often tried to imitate Reborn when he was a kid, pulling pranks and getting everyone else to do his work for him. Though Reborn would have never cripple a child, especially not his own child… If he had had one. Hell, he wouldn't even seriously harm that annoying waste of space Lambo, and EVERYONE hated him.

No, Reborn wouldn't blame himself for Iemitsu's bad work ethic. He was a grown man and needed to take responsibility for his own life.

Besides, he had helped with Kiritsugu's training too and he ended up… ah...

He practically raised Aria and she… hm…

Well Bianchi was… oh…

Pipsqueak Dino turned out alright, did he?

Wow, Reborn really was a horrible influence on people.

"Natsumi? What are you doing here?" Shirou asked as he exited his 'work shop'. He had the bag of modified clothes in hand and was looking down at Natsumi as she lay there under the open sky.

"I'm... I'm just… enjoying the morning air." Natsumi stammered, embarrassed at having been caught.

"Is that so." Shirou said, with an old man smile that didn't match his physical age. "Well, I'm going to start on breakfast. Would you mind waking everyone else up for me?"

Getting up, Natsumi went back inside and went up the stairs, knocking on Sella and Leysritt's doors to tell them that it was time to wake up, getting replies from within as they started to go through their morning rituals. Kiritsugu and Irisviel's door was open and the room was empty, leaving Natsumi to wonder where they were, though she didn't wonder long as she headed to Illya's room.

"Illya-chan. Illya-chan. It's time to wake up." Natsumi said, knocking on the door, only to get no reply. "Illya-chan?" A little worried, Natsumi cracked open the door and looked inside, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Illya was there, sleeping in her bed. Walking in, Natsumi started to gently shake the young girl. "Illya-chan, it's time to wake up."

Illya started to make sleepy noises as she began to steer from her sleep, slowly pushing himself up. Then, to Natsumi's shock, the little girl started to lean towards her. "Good mornin' kiss…" Illya mumbled in her half sleep… before planting a kiss on Natsumi's lips. Natsumi was too surprised to do anything and just stood there until the sleep drifted out of Illya's eyes and she seemed to understand what she was doing. "EH!"

...For some reason, Natsumi blamed Aunt Iris for this.

* * *

"And that is what we know about the current situation." Lal Mirch said as she finished her report on the incident between Emiya Kiritsugu and the Ninth, omitting the things she had learned from Reborn.

"So, Kiri-kun has issued a travel ban on Namimori huh? Sounds like I'm not going to be able to see my beautiful Nana or my little Tsundere Sunflower for a while." Iemitsu mopped as he slacked off in his armchair, lazily scratching at his stomach. He didn't seem to care that he was in the middle of their base and everyone could see their boss acting in such a repugnant manner.

It took all of her self-discipline for Lal to not shout at the man, telling him that he hadn't been back home to his wife and daughter for more than a year already, and that his daughter wasn't a tsundere, she truly hated him, and he deserved it. He had so little intention of going back that he had told his wife to just mislead their daughter and let her think he was dead.

God she missed the Italian special forces. She never had to put up with such things from her superiors when she was still an instructor for the real army intelligence unit, instead of this place. Why in the world did the Ninth decide to make Iemitsu the head of CEDEF instead of her? She had been far more qualified for the job. She had been chosen to be an Arcobaleno for crying out loud, even if Colonello interfered and took the curse for her, leaving her a half baked Arcobaleno instead of a full one. She had had over forty years of experience when Iemitsu replaced his father. More than twice as long as Iemitsu had been alive.

Now, instead of being the leader, she was a glorified babysitter.

She would admit that Iemitsu was strong, stupidly strong even, but he completely lacked the skills for leading an intelligence division. He was also the one to convince Lal that the 'Vongola's Hyper Intuition' was nothing but a myth, one that Iemitsu's father hid behind so as to not have to explain how he managed to sniff people out. But where Ietsuna was a genius who played everyone like a fiddle, Iemitsu was an idiot whose schemes weren't as clever as he thought they were. Iemitsu's intuition was 'hyper' in the same sense as a four year old on a sugar high, it never failed to give Lal a headache.

"By the contract made by your father, Emiya Kiritsugu has the right to manage Namimori. If someone was to ignore his ban and cause trouble there, he would be permitted to hunt them down and kill them without worrying about it releasing our side from the contract." Lal Mirch reminded him.

"Well, it can't be helped. Just leave them be. I'm sure they will cool down eventually." Iemitsu said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"...You aren't at all inclined to try to speak to him, to either work this out or investigate the motivation behind his actions?" Lal asked, trying to push her boss to do his job. "The other members of the Vongola Alliance are going to have questions and you need to have at least fake answers ready. The crippling of most of the Vongola's top members isn't going to go unnoticed."

Of course, she already knew what was going on. She investigated it herself and found out through Reborn about the 'seal'. Just another reason to be disgusted with the Mafia that she had found herself forced into, when her new circumstances prevented her from continuing with her old life. All of the Arcobaleno were involved in the Mafia in some way, but not all of them wanted to be. You didn't really have many options for employment after being magically transformed into a semi-immortal baby.

"Dealing with that kind of stuff is Timoteo's job."

"No! It is your job!" Lal shouted, the deformed skin around her right eye twitched rapidly as the exposed blood vessels bulged.

Why? Why wasn't she in charge?

* * *

"Illya, are you feeling alright? Your face is all red." Shirou said as he placed the girl's breakfast out in front of her.

"N...nothing happened!" Illya denied before any accusation was even made against her.

"Illya, calm down, it isn't a big deal." Natsumi said, feeling kind of guilty, even though she hadn't done anything but wake Illya up.

"Oh, so Usagi-chan doesn't mind our little girl stealing her first kiss." Leysritt teased.

"Leysritt-sensei, no one really reacts to people saying stuff like that outside of TV." Natsumi said with a sigh, not seeming to notice Illya squeaking the words 'first kiss'.

"Come on Usagi-chan, there's no need to be so formal here. You can just call me Leysritt-nee-chan, like you did when you were little." Leysritt said with a pout.

"Should it even be 'nee-chan'?" Shirou asked with a raised eyebrow. "Since we are all being more open about the whole magic thing, how about you tell them how old you two really are?"

"Oh so you've known all along huh?" Sella said with a small smile. "I guess that explains why you would never call us onee-chan."

"I didn't know. I only had my suspicions." Shirou admitted.

"What do you mean?" Illya asked with a tilt of the head.

"Leysritt and I are actually only thirteen years old. Our birthday was last month." Sella chuckled.

""...HUH!"" Natsumi and Illya shouted in shock.

"But I'm still a whole three months older than you, Usagi-chan. So I still expect you to address me as an older sister." Leysritt said with a wink.

"Th...thirteen!? You've gotta be kidding me!?" Natsumi said, unable to understand how her teachers were only as old as some of the girls in her class. And she had known them for eight years. They had been like full grown adults since they were five.

"You should have realized by now that things aren't always as they seem." Reborn chuckled from his boosted seat as he enjoyed the tea that Shirou had provided for him.

Even if he and Reborn weren't on good terms, Shirou was still a Japanese gentleman and would not deny the basics inside his own home. Even Kotomine, known bastard that he was, hadn't been denied the basics of hospitality. Besides, Illya was watching.

"But then, how old is Reborn-san? You said you knew papa when he was a kid, but how old are you really?" Illya asked.

"Hm, that's a good question. I was orphaned during World War II and don't remember much from before that, so I don't know my exact date of birth, but I should be something like 68." Reborn said, deciding to throw out a little bit of his history as an orphan to see if it would buy him any sympathy from the orphaned Shirou, and maybe give Natsumi a different view of the Vongola. "Daniela, the Vongola Ottavo and Natsumi's predecessor, dug me out of a bombed out building where I was the only survivor. She gave me and many other orphans from the war a place to live."

"...Is that so." Shirou said, his expression far off, perhaps nostalgic.

"So that's why Reborn always talks about the Vongola the way he does." Natsumi mumbled herself, her words almost too soft for Reborn to hear.

"I didn't know you were an orphan?" Sella said, surprised that Reborn would share anything at all.

"I always kind of felt like Reborn was something that kind of just existed. Thinking of him being born feels weird." Leysritt mumbled.

"I don't want to hear that out of you two." Reborn said with a playful huff before going back to his tea.

"I didn't know that the fairies were involved in the World War too." Illya said, earning slightly worried looks from everyone as Reborn chuckled.

"Even our world was involved, just in a different way." Reborn said before deciding to change the subject. "I've managed to get my hands on all those materials you said you needed." He said to Shirou, while pulling out a large briefcase from his pocket space.

"That was fast." Shirou said, not at all surprised by the sudden appearance of the case as he took it. He didn't immediately open it, placing his hand on its side and seeming to focus for a moment, likely using some kind of magic to check it for traps. After convincing himself that the case was safe, he placed it on the table and popped it open to check on the contents, making sure everything was to his specifications. However, his jaw dropped as he opened the case and a rainbow of color came pouring out.

Reborn wished he had been drinking something so that he could see the boy doing a spit take.

"Reborn, these are… Are these…" Shirou was absolutely speechless as he reached into the case and pulled out a large, uncut yellow crystal the size of a large softball.

"Wow, so pretty!" Illya said as she stared at the glowing yellow stone.

"What even is that?" Sella asked curiously, having never seen such a dumbfounded look on Shirou's face.

"I've never seen a raw one before, but I am almost certain that this is what is called a rainbow fragment. And there are a dozen of them." Shirou said in disbelief. "Reborn, this isn't what I asked for."

"The materials you asked for are also in there. Those rainbow fragments are your payment." Reborn said with a cheeky smile. "You said you wouldn't accept my money, so I had to think of another way to pay you, since Leo's threads weren't valuable enough to cover the expense."

"Reborn, I can't accept these." Shirou half shouted. "Rainbow fragments aren't the kind of thing that money can buy. For Phantasms like this, the term priceless doesn't even begin to cover it. Where in the world did you get them?"

"The Vongola has a small stash of them from a conflict during the time of the Vongola Secondo. I was given them as a gift back before Daniela died, though I never found a good use for them. While they are priceless treasures, only around five people in the entire world even know how to use them. So trading them for the priceless treasure you and planning on making Natsumi-chan is perfectly reasonable. Or do you not consider an item capable of hiding you from a god as being valuable enough."

Shirou narrowed his eyes a little. "I get it. You want to see if I can make something for you out of them."

"Wrong. I want to see if you can make something for yourself." Reborn said with a shake of the head. "After all, it is embarrassing to see a wizard like you using rings made out of milk bottle caps."

Shirou blushed a little at the comment about his rings. "Shut up! I was using what I had on hand, okay!"

"...Wait, is that what you were doing with those bottle caps? I thought you were just collecting them or something." Leysritt asked in dumbfounded shock.

"I was only seven, I didn't exactly have much to work with! And I'll have you know that tin is a very effective isolating material for magical energy! Besides, they were just the prototypes!" Shirou said defensively.

...Really? Yes, the prototype rings that he gave his sister and Natsumi were pretty weak, on the level of an E grade stoneless ring, but for them to have actually been made by a kid in his family's shed using bottle caps. Reborn was having to tamper his sense of normalcy just to deal with Shirou.

...REBORN was having to tamper his sense of normalcy! Oh God, he could feel his sense of self fading. Who even was he anymore?

"My point stands. Besides, the stronger you are, the stronger Natsumi and Illya are. So it works out for me." Reborn said, pushing away his impending identity crisis. "So do you know how to make use of them?"

"...I might." Shirou said, though it might as well have been a confession.

"So, once you are done with your current job and the magical girl outfit, you can get to work on making your sister's magic wand." Reborn said.

"Magic wand!?" Illya shouted in surprise before Shirou could respond.

"Of course. There's no rule that says they have to be rings. They just usually have been, since they are less attention gathering that way. But they can be any shape you want." Reborn said cheerfully, as if he was really saying 'checkmate'.

"Reborn, the kind of power output a tool made from these stones would have is…" Shirou started to tell off Reborn about how irresponsible it would be to give a child such a thing, only to stop when his sister looked up at him with her bright shining eyes. "...Fine. But I'll be placing a limiter on it."

"Yay! You're the best, Onii-chan!" Illya cheered before grabbing her brother in a hug.

"You really are a wimp when it comes to Illya-chan. You know that, right?" Leysritt said, shaking her head, until her phone started to go off. "Shit, we need to start heading towards school. You kids want a lift?"

"You aren't even old enough to drive?" Natsumi said, getting a snort out of Sella as she grabbed the keys.

"I think I'll be skipping today." Shirou said with a shake of his head and rubbing his eyes. "One too many all nighters and too much magic energy used. I plan on catching up on my sleep."

"Don't you have a kendo tournament tomorrow that you need to be preparing for?" Reborn said.

"...That's tomorrow?" Shirou groaned. "I'll swing by after school to help with the practice, but I'm too tired to be dealing with Hibari right now."

Natsumi laughed a little before getting up from the table and picking up her plate. "I think I'll walk to school. It's a nice morning and I'd like to enjoy the weather."

"If you say so. How about you Illya-chan?" Leysritt asked.

"I'll go with you. I kind of forgot to do my homework yesterday in the excitement, so I could use the extra minutes." Illya admitted with a blush.

"Well, at least you are going to school." Sella chuckled. "Go and grab your things. We'll leave as soon as you get back."

"Okay!" Illya shouted, running to go and grab her backpack.

Natsumi took a little bit more time changing into her uniform and checking over her own homework to make sure everything was in order before going to leave. Not in any kind of rush or panic for the first time since Reborn had entered her life. She enjoyed the air and sun on her face as she walked to the end of the driveway… that was when her dreams of a perfect day took its first hit.

"Good morning, Judaime!" Of course he was waiting for her there.

* * *

**This story is going a lot slower than I thought it would in the outline.**

* * *

**Lal Mirch says multiple times in canon that 'Vongola Hyper Intuition' is nothing more than a myth, despite being Iemitsu's direct subordinate. What exactly does that say?**


	13. Chapter 13

"So Judaime, did you manage to get any extra kendo practice in? I spent most of yesterday practicing." Gokudera said with his usual unnervingly large smile as he continued to try desperately to make small talk. It felt weird, how he wasn't asking any questions about what had happened the night before, or even mentioning anything about it, even though he clearly wanted too. The way he wasn't asking about it was getting a little tiresome.

"Reborn had me practice the forms a little yesterday morning, but I was a bit distracted." Natsumi replied, before biting the bullet and just asking him. "Gokudera-san, you haven't asked at all about what happened yesterday after you left."

"Ah, that is…" Gokudera stammered, his eyes going to Reborn who was walking along side them on top of the wall that divided the houses.

"I forced Gokudera-kun to sign a geass contract last night, to prevent him from speaking to anyone from the mafia world about either your seal's existence or removal, or about Shirou-kun's abilities in general." Reborn informed Natsumi. "It seems he is worried that the contract forbids him from talking to you about it as well, though it won't punish him for talking to you, me or any of the members of the Emiya clan."

"It won't!?" Gokudera said in shock.

"Reborn, you made him sign something as dangerous as that?" Natsumi said in surprise. From what she had learned from Shirou, geass contracts were serious business. If Gokudera accidentally broke it, he could suffer serious damage to his soul.

"While I would like to say that Gokudera is loyal to you, he has too many old connections. This was for your own safety." Reborn said. "Besides, he volunteered for it."

"Don't worry, Judaime. This way, even if I am captured, I could never divulge any of your secrets." Gokudera said.

"Um… thank you?" Natsumi said, not really sure how to respond to that.

Forcing the geass on Gokudera was more important than Natsumi probably realized. Gokudera had been exposed to the Ninth multiple times in the past, and was brought up by Timoteo as a possible Guardian for Natsumi despite his bad track record and attitude towards women. While Reborn had agreed for Bianchi's sake, it did likely mean that Gokudera was in the man's pocket, either consciously or unconsciously.

"Judaime, did everything turn out alright? You seem fine but…" Gokudera started to ask after being given the all clear by Reborn.

"I'm alright. Actually, I've been feeling better than ever since Shirou-senpai managed to remove the seal." Natsumi said with a smile as she looked up at the sky.

"Th… that's great." Gokudera said, though his smile looked a bit more forced than before. It was always like that, every time someone mentioned Shirou.

"Reborn, I sort of get why my flames and seal needed to be kept a secret, but why do you and Uncle Kiri keep making a big deal out of keeping the fact that Shirou-senpai can use magic a secret? Don't you all also use magical stuff too?" Natsumi asked.

"I suppose it is too early for you to tell the difference, but you can't compare what we do to what he does." Reborn said with a shake of his head. "While we do have access to magic items, all of them are either relics of the past, copies of those relics, or vessels used to transport those relics' power. Even after hundreds of years of study and trillions of dollars invested, we barely understand any of it. However, Shirou hasn't been making cheap knock-offs of the old relics. He might just have an actual idea of how magic works and how to create new magic items. Using nothing more than the materials one could get at a hobby store, he created magic items that are worth millions. Not only that, he has an in-depth knowledge about things from the age of magic. That alone makes him a resource that most Famiglias and countries would go to war in order to obtain."

"Wait, countries!?" Natsumi shouted in surprise.

"Did you think that the countries didn't know about the darker world? Almost every major nation has some kind of special shadow agency that deals with Flame users and ancient relics." Reborn said. "But they really aren't all that strong compared to the more established Famiglias, since they lack the old knowledge that the mafia has been hoarding for generations, and often end up making commissions to freelance hitmen, like Kiri-kun and Iris-chan. But that's exactly why they would be especially desperate to get their hands on someone like Shirou-kun, and in my experience, they are rarely shy about how many bodies pile up. That's what happens when you have completely unregulated groups like that."

"I didn't realize that Shirou's magic was such a big deal." Natsumi mumbled, trying to imagine a war starting over him.

"It's not so much the magic itself as it is the knowledge that produced it. In our world, that kind of knowledge is power. Power enough to perhaps conquer the entire world." Reborn said in a serious manner. Then his tone turned cheerful. "And that power just fell right into your lap. Aren't you lucky."

"Reborn…" Natsumi sighed. She didn't want to think of Shirou in that kind of manner. Though she had to admit, she was lucky. If Shirou hadn't had this knowledge, she would still have that seal on her. But that didn't change how she viewed him.

To her, Shirou was a good friend and an older brother figure, and she didn't care about anything else. Same went for Uncle Kiri, Aunt Iris and Sella and Leysritt, they were all just people who were Natsumi's family.

Reborn could tell that Natsumi still didn't get the implications of Shirou's knowledge. Normally, it would take years of training that bordered on cruelty to gain even the slightest bit of control over one's flames. Yet Shirou-kun could simply give it to Natsumi and Illya in an afternoon. Imagine if an entire army could do the same? An army of one million people with superhuman strength, who could dodge normal bullets and punch through walls. Reborn's comment about world domination wasn't a joke, any country that monopolized on it could easily take over the entire world. Even an organization as massive and wide spread as Vongola had fewer than two hundred true active flame users.

And this wasn't even mentioning the possibility of mass producible rings, what was once one of the most limiting factors for the instruction of more flame users.

If Shirou wasn't the spitting image of his father when it came to personality, a generally cautious individual who became a complete hot headed when it came to matters involving the people closest to him, then Reborn might actually be worried about world stability. As is, Shirou was very unlikely to try to take over the world or assist anyone in such a venture.

"Looks like your school is coming up. And you've got plenty of time too, for once." Reborn said a little cheekily.

"And whose fault is that?" Natsumi pouted, giving Reborn a suspicious glance. "Reborn, you aren't plotting anything, are you?"

"You wound me. I might have been harsh to you, but it was for your own benefit." Reborn said, doing his best to sound like the victim. "Stress and conflict were necessary for you to start to gain access to your flames, so in order to help you, I have no choice but to interfere with your life. But know that you have full access to your flames, that is no longer needed. And since you have progressed so smoothly, I think I can afford to give you a break, until we have the plans for your physical therapy and schoolwork straightened out."

Of course, the truth was that he was holding himself back until he could trust Shirou to examine his curse without using the opportunity against him, but Natsumi didn't need to know that. Though it was true that Natsumi's sudden progression meant that his usual teaching methods were a lot less necessary, that didn't mean he wouldn't prank her a bit in the future.

"Really?" Natsumi asked, voice full of suspicion.

"Yes. Really." Reborn lied effortlessly.

Until he managed to charm Shirou, he would just have to settle for bullying Gokudera while no one was looking. Though the fact that Gokudera simply accepted anything Reborn said as the truth was a bit of a disappointment in these kinds of things. What's the point in shaving someone's hair off before a school sports day and telling them it makes them more aerodynamic if they are going to thank you for the help?

As annoying as Natsumi's little squeal was, he was going to miss it. Hopefully he couldn't start showing signs of withdrawal or anything. Maybe he could leave the Emiyas in charge for a day or two to go pick on Pipsqueak Dino for a bit.

Though as they walked through the gate to the school, Reborn realized that his assistance was hardly necessary as a voice called out to them. "Herbivore." Hibari said sharply, students jumping out of his path as he walked, praying he wasn't talking to them.

"HIIEEE!" Natsumi squealed in panic as she quickly realized that Hibari was looking straight at her. His weapons were in his hand.

The sound was like music to Reborn's ears.

"Emiya. Where is he?" Hibari demanded of the girl and Gokudera.

"I… He… He…" Natsumi started to stammer, still unable to pick her words in the face of conflict.

"Speak clearly, or I will bite you to death." Hibari said, his almost nonexistent patience running thin.

"HIIEEE!" Natsumi squealed again.

"Hey, knock it off!" Gokudera said, stepping out in front of Natsumi. "Who do you think you are, threatening Judaime like that?"

'Ah, look at that, Gokudera is a fast learner.' Reborn thought sarcastically right before Hibari struck.

Merely being exposed to Sky Flames a few times over the years had caused Gokudera to become above average for a human his age, and his middle school boy body had strength closing in on a full grown professional athlete.

That said, Hibari wasn't your ordinary middle school thug. While he was a restless and unwilling student, he had still trained under Fon, the world's most skilled martial arts master and the Strongest Storm, and he had all the talent one would expect from his bloodline. Hibari could access his flames on instinct and had the kind of strength and speed needed to effortlessly tear through steel and deflect bullets.

Gokudera might as well be a defenseless kitten and Hibari struck every single opening the silver haired boy had left on his body within the span of two seconds, leaving the body battered on the ground. Though if Hibari hadn't had his kiddy gloves on, Gokudera would have surely died.

"Gokudera-san!?" Natsumi shouted in surprise as she looked down at the injured boy.

"Your repeated disturbances are irritating, Dynamite Herbivore." Hibari said coldly as he kicked the already downed Gokudera, causing him to go skidding across the ground.

"You… bastard." Gokudera tried to gasp, fumbling with his dynamite, only to earn himself another kick.

"It seems I have been too lenient on you. I'll have to fix that." Hibari said with a crocodiles' smile, raising up his tonfas.

"Please stop!" Natsumi cried out. This wasn't right. She couldn't take just watching this happen and had moved between Hibari and Gokudera, holding her arms out wide.

"Judaime… don't." Gokudera gasped as he couldn't properly get air into his lungs.

"Move." Hibari said sharply.

"N...No." She was scared, but she didn't move. But as she stared with fearful eyes at the prefect, something else caught her eyes. Reborn was standing behind the boy, sitting on top of a giant bright green spinning top.

A spinning top...

"Very well." Hibari said before lashing out with his tonfa.

Reacting on instinct alone, bent backwards, causing the weapon to pass only inches away from her face as she fell backwards. Her right hand went to the ground to support her, as she kicked out at Hibari's face with her left leg.

Hibari dodged the kick by moving just a few inches to the side, letting the girl's heel pass right over her shoulders as he thrust forward with his other arm.

Natsumi couldn't see the attack, but she knew it was there all the same. She had known from the beginning that the follow up would be coming. Which is why she kicked down her extended leg on Hibari's shoulder, using it to push herself out of the way of the swing as she performed a sort of one armed vault, pushing herself ten feet into the air as her momentum carried her away. She twisted in the air and landed on her feet, facing Hibari with legs spread and her arms out by her sides. Her hands were open and laxed in a defensive stance.

Hibari was surprised, but that surprise turned into a predatory grin as he could barely feel the girl's flames flickering underneath the enchantment that Shirou had provided for Natsumi. "You've changed, Herbivore." The black haired teen said as his bloodlust started to rise.

"Please stop this, Hibari-senpai." Natsumi said, her voice calm as she looked at Hibari with soft orange eyes.

"Not a chance." Hibari said before starting to rush forward.

Natsumi could see it all, his every move as it came. However, being able to see it and being able to do something about it was another matter entirely. Hibari wasn't holding back anymore and his speed and strength far exceeded Natsumi's.

Reborn watched as the girl was driven into a constant retreat, trying to deal with the rain of blows as they came. She was doing well, extraordinary well. Not only had her Sky Flames started to grow in response to the threat possessed by young Hibari, but so had the legendary Vongola Hyper Intuition. The ability to read the actions and responses of any living thing. She was reacting to his attacks before he could ever make them, remaining a step ahead of a boy who had been training in combat since he could stand.

It was impressive to see, but also left a nagging feeling in the back of Reborn's mind.

Hadn't Shirou been doing the same thing?

The difference in power between Natsumi and Hibari was around half the difference in raw strength between Shirou and Reborn himself, and yet Shirou had managed to not only hold his own against Reborn, but force the hitman onto the defensive more than once. He'd also done the same with Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, fighting the man while using only around a fifth of Tsuyoshi's strength.

As Reborn pondered this, things took a term for the worse for Natsumi, who after successfully grabbing onto Hibari's wrist and trying to lock his arm, was flung to the ground through pure strength. Hibari was making to attack again, before she could recover herself, when a small round stone came flying at his head as if fired from a gun.

The prefect reacted on instinct and deflected the projectile with one of his tonfas, which let off a metallic hum as it vibrated from the impact. His attention pulled away from Natsumi, Hibari turned to look at Reborn, who was standing casually a few feet away, tossing another rock up and down in his left hand while his right was in his pocket.

"Infant." Hibari said, seeming to completely forget about the girl as he locked his predatory gaze on Reborn.

"That's enough fun for you, Hibari. As entertaining as Natsumi might be for you, she is still recovering from an ordeal. So I can't have you hurting her." Reborn said in his usual cheerful voice. "Besides, the one you really want to fight is Shirou-kun, isn't it?"

"Emiya isn't the only one I want to fight." Hibari said, raising up his tonfas.

"If you can manage to beat Shirou-kun, then I'll let you have a crack at it." Reborn chuckled in response. "But I'm afraid I ran the boy a little ragged over these last few days, so he's sleeping it off at home. He said he will be coming by after school though for the Kendo practice, if you are still interested."

"Is that so." Hibari said, his body relaxing as he turned to leave. "He'd better be there. Or I will bite you to death."

As Hibari left, Reborn's smile faltered a little as he gave an inward groan of annoyance.

"That was scary." Natsumi said with a sigh as she came down from her flame activation high. She rubbed her arms, which were a little sore, but didn't hurt too much, all things considered.

"How are you holding up?" Reborn asked her.

"I'm fine. But you could have stopped him sooner you know." Natsumi complained weakly.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to." Reborn replied. "The geass contract I signed when I agreed to become your home tutor forbids me from interfering with your battles, other than to use Dying Will Bullets. Even doing something as simple as tossing a stone is a punishable infraction."

"What!? Are you going to be alright?" Natsumi said, seemingly frightened for Reborn.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not so weak that the punishment for such a minor infraction would hurt me. I've just got a bit of a headache." Reborn said with a dismissive shrug. He didn't need to tell her that if Gokudera had committed such a knowing infraction of his contract that the boy would be unconscious for a week. "Your health right now is more important. After all, we can't have you getting injured before the Kendo tournament. After how well you handled Hibari-kun, you should be one of the starts rather than the substitute. Way to go, Natsumi."

"Reborn…" Natsumi said, sounding depressed by his praise.

"Judaime." Gokudera said as he got to his feet and walked over to her, dragging his feet and he looked a mixture of awed and depressed. "I'm sorry, Judaime. Even though you were right there, I couldn't even mount a defense against him. I'm an embarrassment as a subordinate."

Natsumi flinched at his words. "Stop calling me that." She said through gritted teeth. "I am not your boss and I never will be."

"Judaime?" Gokudera said, taken aback.

"I am not part of the mafia and never will be! I hate the Vongola Famiglia! If it was up to me, the entire thing would be destroyed!" Natsumi shouted into Gokudera's face, completely ignoring the fact that they were out in public.

That was fine, the moment Hibari started to perform inhuman feats of strength, the wards around the school caused all the normies to have their eyes glaze over and ignore anything out of the ordinary.

Still, Gokudera looked heart broken at Natsumi's declaration of her hatred. Though he was even more shocked by Reborn's response. "That's fine."

"Reborn!?" Gokudera said in complete disbelief.

"You are going to inherit the legacy of the Vongola Famiglia, that is not negotiable, but what you do with it is completely up to you. You can walk away from the mafia if you want, or you could use your power to bring the whole thing down. It's up to you." Reborn said casually. "Though I have higher hopes for you than that. That you will be able to use what you gain to fix the Vongola Famiglia and return it to being a force for good." Reborn looked at Natsumi with his large black eyes. "I can try to influence you all I want, but at the end of the road, you will be in charge."

"I'm… I'm not going to change my mind." Natsumi said stubbornly.

"We'll see." Reborn replied with a knowing smile. He would do whatever it took to change the girl's mind, so that she would change the Vongola Famiglia, rather than simply erasing it. "Now how about you two get to class. You don't want to give Hibari another reason to go after you, do you?"

* * *

Rest didn't come easy to Shirou. He was still too caught up on the absurdity of what Reborn had dropped in his lap.

Rainbow Fragments. The crystalized remnants of the Bifrost, the rainbow bridge which spans between worlds, after it had been destroyed during Ragnarok. The original Bifrost would have occupied the same level of existence as Excalibur and Avalon. Even a mere fragment held power that was simply insane. Rin would have gone foaming at the mouth the moment she laid eyes on the stones.

To have such unbelievably mystical artifacts pushed onto him…

It was as if Zelretch had walked through the door and asked Shirou to take his Jeweled Sword from him because he couldn't be bothered to carry it around anymore. Shirou hadn't been sure how to even respond to such a thing. What in the world was Reborn thinking just giving them away?

Did Reborn not realize just what he was giving Shirou, or was Reborn such a monster of such ridiculous magnitude that even the Rainbow Fragments didn't feel that important to him?

Either way, Shirou's mind had lingered on what exactly he would do with them. Between Rin and Zelretch's weapon shaped creations, Shirou had the blueprints to some of the greatest examples of Jewelcraft ever devised stored away in his Unlimited Blade Works. With those, along with his own experiments on the creation of flame rings, Shirou was fairly certain he could use the Rainbow Fragments to create Greater Mysteries that could rival some Noble Phantasms… and then give one to his little sister who is trying to play at being a 'magical girl'.

The image of sweet little Illya accidentally vaporizing an entire city block flashed into Shirou's mind.

Limiters. There would need to be limiters.

Because of such unnerving thoughts, it took awhile for Shirou to actually get to sleep, and it was no more than two hours after he shut his eyes that they came snapping open again as the fire alarm went off.

Shirou was out of bed in an instant and into the kitchen just in time to see a large stove fire being put out in a small flash of blue light, leaving a very frustrated looking Kiritsugu staring down at the burned contents of the pan that he had somehow managed to set on fire.

"Dad?" Shirou said, surprised to see Kiritsugu trying to cook something.

He had never tried to cook before in either this or his previous life. In Shirou's old life, Kiritsugu had never made anything save for microwave dinners.

It then occurred to him that they didn't stock any of those in the house, because Shirou won't let people eat them.

Kiritsugu turned to look at Shirou before averting his gaze a little and seeming to hesitate with the idea of trying to hide the pan behind his back. "You're not in school?"

"I ended up pulling an all nighter last night to finish the modifications to Natsumi's uniforms, so I figured I would get some sleep." Shirou admitted. "Considering you were gone this morning, I'm guessing you and mom went after whoever it was who was responsible for the seal."

"For the most part. We planned to be home before breakfast, but were delayed." Kiritsugu said.

"Then you must be hungry. I'll make us all some lunch."

"...That would be appreciated."

* * *

"Thank you for the meal, sweetie. It was delicious." Irisviel said cheerfully as she got up from the table to bus her plate.

"You're welcome mom." Shirou replied.

Despite everything that had happened and everything that had been left unsaid in not just these last few days, but ever since Shirou had first come into their lives, it had still been a quiet meal. An awkward meal, at least for Shirou.

Even though Kiritsugu had taken the time to give Shirou a brief run down about what was known about the Dying Will Flames and a few papers that Shirou could read over, neither he nor Irisviel had asked Shirou anything about his past. They had been respectful of Shirou's privacy, but…

"Mom, dad, I'd like to talk to you two for a bit, if you have the time." Shirou said, not entirely sure how to proceed.

"Well sure we have time. You've father and I were just going to get a little bit of sleep ourselves." Irisviel said with her usual smile.

"I'd like to talk to you two about the past. My past, before my reincarnation." Shirou said.

Irisviel's energetic smile became more gentle and motherly as she came over to Shirou and gave him a hug. "If you don't feel comfortable talking about it, you don't have to, but if you want to talk to us, of course we are happy to listen." She said as she stroked Shirou's head.

The boy swallowed in the embrace of the only mother he had ever known. "I want to talk to you about it." Shirou said. "Old memories don't come from another person from the past, but from another me from a parallel world. A pretty distant one, I think. Though I guess a lot of things were the same."

"A parallel world?" Kiritsugu said, seeming to have not considered the possibility.

"I was still Emiya Shirou. The places and events were different, but I was still orphaned by a fire and dad still found me. Though that is where most of the similarities end. I never met mom, because she had died before I was adopted, and the Von Einzbern family, a family of Magus like me, had taken Illya, who was a year older than me, away from dad, who had been too heavily injured by a curse to fight them for her." As Shirou talked, it all just kind of came pouring out. He wanted to talk, he wanted to tell them as much as possible, but he didn't know how much of it he could handle talking about before his heart just shut itself down. So he pressed forward without giving his parents a chance to ask questions. "Dad was my first teacher, though an unwilling one. He didn't want me to have anything to do with the 'Moonlit World' and even purposely taught me wrong in an attempt to keep me away from it all. I kept trying to pester him to teach me more, but he died to the curse just a few years after he adopted me.

"The first time I met Illya was right before I was dragged into something called the 'Holy Grail War'. Seven Magus and seven Servants, I guess you could think of them as magical copies of legendary heroes, all fighting over the Holy Grail, an artifact that could grant any wish." Shirou swallowed before pressing forward. "Illya and I were almost on opposite sides in everything. She had been told by the Einzberns that dad abandoned her and she had been blaming me for everything, though after she found out the truth, we bonded together as a family. The Einzberns had performed experiments on her, causing her body to remain that of a young girl. Even though she was nineteen, she still looked like she was ten. She often called me Onii-chan, as her own personal joke."

Shirou was already starting to choke up. Even with his mother's Sky Flames soothing his soul, he had been burying these emotions for so long it that was like ripping of a bandage and reopening old wounds.

"A lot of things happened. We found out that the Holy Grail had been corrupted and as things progressed it appeared as though the entire world was going to be destroyed. Together, along with some of the other Magus involved, we managed to pull through, but Sella and Leysritt sacrificed their lives for Illya." As he talked, tears started to form in Shirou's eyes, though he just kept going. "After the Grail was finally destroyed, I thought it would be over, but I was wrong. In order to give Illya an edge in the Grail War, the Einzberns did something to Illya. They replaced 80% of her body with artificial magic circuits and her body was starting to reject them. I'm not sure if they were planning on using the Holy Grail's power to fit it or if they simply did care, but Illya only had a year to live.

"After she finally admitted what was happening to me, I did everything I could, searching for some way to help her, to save her life, but nothing worked. As her condition advanced she started to be in horrible pain as her body was effectively attacking her soul, and nothing could help her with the pain. Healing magic, mundane medicine, it didn't matter, her body's own ridiculously high magic power broke it down before it could do anything. Nothing I did could even ease her pain. So in the end... So in the end I… I…"

Shirou couldn't say it. He could still remember the feel of Illya's small body in his arms so tense at first, as she struggled with unbelievable pain… though she went limp afterwards.

Irisviel held Shirou as he broke down, into a stream of apologies. After what he did, he wasn't deserving of a second chance to be a big brother.

Kiritsugu and Irisviel didn't ask any questions. They simply stayed with Shirou, providing him reassurances. They were surprised by the truth, but none of it changed anything.

Shirou was still their son.


	14. Chapter 14

"AAAEEE!? They want us to do what!?" Squalo shouted, looking at Ottavio's messenger with more disbelief than aggression. "Targeting Emiya Kiritsugu's son! Fuck no! Are you trying to get us killed!? I don't care how crippled he made the gutless old bastard, we've got no beef with Emiya!"

Since the contract was made before the Emiyas adopted the boy, the wording of the contract mostly dealt with family knowledge and bloodline, meaning that their adopted son was still an open target, uncovered by the contract. It seemed like someone was banking on the boy being a weak point for abduction to be used as leverage against the parents. The only problem was that they still couldn't find anyone mad enough to go.

To think they would even ask Varia, after all the bad blood that existed between them, to try their luck with the Hitman Hunter. He must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel. None of them cared if Ottavio was the official Vice-Captain of Varia. They weren't going to run off to die on his shitty orders, just because he wanted to brown nose the main branch.

"What would our odds of success be on such a job?" Belphegor asked curiously as the crazy prince played with one of his knives.

"Hm… If I recall correctly, we've already crunched the numbers to that one a while ago. Our group's odds of successfully stealing something from the Emiya residence would be 8.6%, if we strike when the deadly duo are away from home, but our odds of survival afterwards are at 0.9%." Lussuria hummed with a shake of the head. "And that is without considering that we would be targeting his family, and not just something he had in his possession, or the fact that Reborn is supposed to be in the area and might not sit quiet. So it's suicide."

"Ugh, if they want me to go anywhere near Reborn, it would cost extra, and it would have been an expensive job to begin with." Mammon huffed his/her displeasure. Mammon had been the one to scout the Emiya's residence two years back and came away with absolutely nothing as the wards placed around it blocked even their scrying. It was partially this that they based their estimated chances on, and partially their knowledge of the artificial humans who were left to guard the household while the parents were away.

Normally speaking, the members of Varia don't take any job without at least a 90% chance of success, unless it was a state of emergency.

"Get Ottavio to tell the Ninth to give us our boss back and we might consider it." Levi-A-Than said gruffly.

"Yeah, that would be a start! If he wants us to do this job, he can talk to the boss!" Squalo shouted before throwing a bottle of wine at the messengers head. The man scurried out of the area after getting a face full of the glass bottle. Man was lucky enough for it to not break on him.

"Think they will actually do it?" Lussuria asked after the man was gone.

"Not a chance. If the boss got out, the first thing she'd do is put that feeble old man into the grave. Besides, the Ninth wasn't the one to place the hit. Even after Emiya crippled him and his Guardians, he isn't going to do something as stupid as targeting the man's family. He might be a senile old bastard, but he isn't that stupid." Squalo admitted. "Though if he did give the boss back, I'd consider doing the job just to have the chance to see her in action again."

"Huh? Was the boss really so great as to make you like your chances of taking on the Hitman Hunter?" Belphegor asked with a tilt of the head, in the manner of a child asking for a bedtime story. Belphegor had joined up with Varia only shortly before the Cradle Affair, and had only ever once got to see Xana in action before the Ninth showed just how much fatherly love he had for the girl.

"Are you kidding me? With the boss leading the way, we managed to survive even when the six Guardians all ambushed us, back when the title of Guardian still meant something. The boss broke through the lot of them by herself and nearly destroyed Headquarters doing it." Squalo said in the manner of a man recalling happier memories. "With her leading the charge, I'd even be willing to break down the gates of the Vindice Prison."

While those who knew of the Cradle Affair all claimed that it was Xana trying to off her old man to get her inheritance early, that wasn't the truth. Sure, their boss had been secretly trying to build up support for a take over, but of the political variety. She had wanted to get the top members of the Vongola Alliance behind her to simply have the old man's choice of successor overruled, even if it went against tradition, only using force if the fools who thought themselves worthy of being the Tenth Boss didn't step down. Almost everyone agreed that Xana was the best choice.

The ones who shot first were the Ninth's men, before the coup could even officially start. Someone had leaked information, but they hadn't ever found out who. They had been called to Vongola Headquarters and ambushed, and when Xana broke through the ambush and went to confront her father…

"Grrr." Squalo growled low at the unhappy memory.

How dare Ottavio try to get them to do the Ninth such a favor after what the man had done. Even locking Xana away in Vindice would have been kinder than what he did to her. Bastard pretends to be a loving father and then turns around, ambushes them and condemns his own daughter to Dante's depiction of the Ninth Circle of Hell.

Even the Varia's blood ran cold when they saw their boss suspended in ice, still alive and conscious, being used as a hostage by her own father.

There was a part of Squalo that wanted to take advantage of the Ninth's injuries to put an end to the old man, but after what happened seven years ago, he and the rest of Varia had been forced to take a contract that prevented them from attacking the main branch, or revealing what had happened that day.

The Ninth and his men didn't want anyone to know. While the fact the Cradle Affair happened was only your average secret that everyone knows about, not even the CEDEF or Reborn knew why it had happened, or how the Ninth instigated it. They didn't know what the old man did to her.

Not that Squalo would have ever told anyone. He swore to himself that he could take what he found out that day about the history between Xana and the Ninth to the grave.

Still brooding, Squalo cut the top off of another wine bottle and started drinking. Everyone saw the normal signs and just left him alone to sulk.

None of them noticed when the normally silent Mammon slipped out. None save for Belphegor.

* * *

Ottavio grumbled his annoyance as his messenger came back with the predicted response.

What was the point in having a bunch of morally dead psychopaths, who all only had a single brain cell to share between them, if they didn't just do what they were told?

He had been hoping he could assist the Ninth in getting leverage against the Emiya family and finally get the recognition he deserved. Only the violent monkeys who made up the strongest individuals that Varia had to offer wouldn't do it unless they got their old boss back.

Ottavio had no idea why these psychopaths, who would laugh at the deaths of their own mothers and probably dance in their graves, could still be so ferociously loyal to Xana after seven whole years. If Squalo, Levi-A-Than or Lussuria ever found out that Ottavio had been the one to sell their precious boss out, they would definitely kill him.

Ottavio had thought that after he warned the Ninth of the upcoming hostile takeover, that he could be rewarded with a better position, but while he had technically taken over as the boss of Varia, they had never officially removed Xana from that position, and none of the other members that Xana brought in respected him at all. All they cared about was individual power. Where Ottavio's strengths were in management.

Drug trade, arms dealing, human trafficking, the buying and selling of military secrets all across the world, if there was money to be made and influence to be gained, you could be almost assured that Ottavio had a finger in that pie, and he managed it all personally. Something those charismaless fools could never hope to accomplish.

Though every once and awhile he could come across a problem that couldn't be solved with connections and deep pockets and that was when having assassins would be handy, if only they could be counted on to simply do their jobs. Without any of the top members taking the bait, he was going to have to simply forget the idea of kidnapping Kiritsugu's adopted son.

"Ottavio." The neutral tones of Mammon took the man by surprise as he stood up from his table and looked down to see the tiny baby form of the mysterious illusionist, face hidden from sight by shadows even in the blighty lit room and with their head tilted up. "That job, how well does it pay?"

Ottavio's mouth twitched. Count on Mammon, the monster who took on the name of the Demon King of Greed, to ask about the money.

"The usual S-rank bounty has already been prepared." Ottavio said calmly. He already had the fifty million euros set aside for just such an occasion, so that he could pay for five S-rank mission wages.

"Not nearly enough. You will be requiring five hundred times that amount if you want me to take this job." Mammon said sharply.

"Five hund… Are you insane!?" Ottavio shouted. "For that kind of money, I could just buy twenty military drones and bomb the Emiyas out of existence!"

"You are showing your ignorance again. This is why no one respects you." Mammon said, causing the man to twitch. "The estimated ninth strongest man in the world, Emiya Kiritsugu, known as the Hitman Hunter and Phantom Hourglass. Considered to be one of Reborn's first students and would likely be named the most talented. He possesses four of the eight 'Rings of the Servants' of the late Von Einzbern Famiglia, as well as one of the six 'Rings of Hell', the Demon's Horn, which is rumored to be capable of opening up a gateway to hell itself. You think that people would be so afraid of him if he could be killed by something as simply as a drone strike? His home is built like a fortress, with more powerful mystic defenses than even the Vongola's Castle Headquarters. You could drop an atomic bomb on his house, and I'm not sure it would be enough. And you can be sure that any failed attempt would be met with vengeance."

Ottavio chewed the inside of his lip as he tried to think. He had seen the kinds of military weapons that flame technology could create, so it annoyed him to be called ignorant in such matters. But he knew enough to know that even those new mobile armor units that the Italian government was playing with wouldn't be able to match one of the current Guardians, let alone all of them. Kiritsugu was definitely a dangerous opponent, more dangerous than Ottavio could even wrap his head around.

"The more dangerous the target, the more costly the job, and it would be easier to bring down the Japanese government than it would be to bring down the Emiya household. I didn't even mention his wife's capabilities, or the two other artificial humans who guard his home, or Reborn being there. Five billion is cheap for a job this dangerous." Mammon said.

"But the job isn't to fight Emiya but to kidnap his son." Ottavio tried to reason.

"Which is the only reason I am considering taking the mission. If it is merely a kidnapping, then it is at least possible. But even a kidnapping has to be performed flawlessly and is unbelievably dangerous. If any loose ends are left to lead back to us, we won't escape easily." Mammon huffed. "If the job was to actually kill one of the Emiyas, then no amount of money you could pay me would be enough."

Ottavio had to concede the point of the dangers involved in the job if Kiritsugu managed to track down who was responsible. Still, Five billion euros?

"So, what's it going to be?"

* * *

Mammon left Ottavio after hammering out some of the details of the contract and payment for the job. Honestly, she didn't trust Ottavio as far as she could throw him, but with the contract in place, at least she would know she was getting her money after it was all over.

The contract made it so that she wouldn't be paid a thing unless she delivered, but if she failed and had to sneak away in shame, no one would be the wiser, so she didn't have to worry about her 'Varia's Quality' being called into question.

Mammon's personal chances of success and survival were actually a lot higher than the rest of Varias, at 46.3% and 22.8% respectively, even without removing her chain from her pacifier. Though that was banking on hiding, going undetected, and running away rather than fighting it out. The odds in fighting it out were much lower, as Kiritsugu was not unaccomplished as an illusionist himself and wouldn't fall for cheap tricks. If she removed the chain and went all out, she'd give herself a one in three chance of winning against Kiritsugu alone. Those chances got a lot worse if his wife became involved.

Five billion euros. It was a lot of money. It would go a long way into funding her experiments, buying scraps of information left over from the Age of Magic, and searching for a cure to the curse.

Not only that, it was a kidnapping mission, instead of assassination, and after they forced Kiritsugu to agree to whatever contract they were planning on forcing on him, the boy would likely be set free without a scratch on him. Not likely to add to the amount of blood on her hands.

Even though she was part of Vongola's Independent Assassinations Unit, Mammon preferred not having to kill people. Even using her scrying to locate targets who were on the run had used to make her feel uncomfortable, but after thirty years, the guilt slowly died as the bodies kept stacking higher and higher. She hardly even cared anymore, so long as the targets were bastards. But killing people with her own hands/mind still left an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach.

It took a pretty psychotic bastard to kill someone with illusions without feeling sick to their stomach, as in order to protect an illusion real enough to kill a man into the mind of the victim, you had to understand just how that death you were envisioning for them would feel. To strangle a man with illusionary cords is to understand what it means to be strangled yourself. The first time she had ever had to try to kill a man had been made easier by the knife he had stabbed in her stomach giving her the perfect frame of reference for the illusion she pieced his heart with.

As much as she projected a killing intent from time to time in order to keep up appearances inside of Varia, she knew how different she was from the rest of them. They killed because they enjoyed the thrill of killing, she did what she did out of desperation, as she tried to both hide from the man with the checkered mask, who had placed this curse on her, and search for a possible out.

Mammon had been the youngest of the 'Seven Strongest', and not by a small margin, being in her mid-teens when it had happened, while even Skull had been in his late twenties. All the rest of them had been in their thirties or even forties. Mammon was the eighth generation head of a family of druids with routes in the British Isles, and was seen as a rare genius for mastering everything her family's craft had to offer and even creating a few new enchantments. She had never even been involved with the Mafia, beyond performing some fortune telling for a few of their bosses. Then that… thing in the checkered mask came into her life and she had been cursed. She had done nothing to deserve this, beyond being born talented with Mist Flames.

She had no idea what Checkered Face was, but its magic was beyond anything her family had ever been confronted with, something from before even the Age of Magic, the Age of the Gods. Mammon was not unfamiliar with curses, but his curse was deeper than anything she ever dreamed possible, not merely attacking the soul, but latching onto it and transforming it and the body entirely. She'd only ever heard about such things in fairytales and old myths.

After being cursed, she and the others were thrust into the spotlight, and she had been all but forced to join the mafia for protection, or else be hunted down by the various powers that be. She had no choice but to do any job she could for the money needed to continue her research in hopes of a cure.

This job was dangerous, but if she could pull it off she could avoid having to do more uncomfortable jobs in the future. Not only that, if everything went perfectly, and she avoided even the boy knowing that she was the one who did it, she might even be able to negotiate his rescue with the Emiyas in order to gain access to their records of ancient magics. Considering the rumors, it was likely that the Einzberns had been performing experiments on using Soul Anchors. Such research data would be invaluable for Mammon's own progress when dealing with the pacifiers.

"Chichichichi!" Mammon was dragged out of her thoughts by Belphegor's cackling, his usual Cheshire grin on his face. "So, you're trying to take the job behind everyone else's backs, aren't you?"

"What are you blabbing about now?" Mammon said with a disinterested sigh, trying to play it off. It only provoked another round of cackling.

"Don't try to lie to me, Mammon. You were walking around without any care for your surroundings. You're only distracted like this when you are thinking about an especially large amount of money." Belphegor laughed. "So, when do we start?"

Mammon inwardly groaned. She absolutely hated the bratty prince, but seven years of being the brat's handler had caused him to be able to read her all too well. He was the only person in Varia who seemed to have realized that Mammon was a girl, not that he told anyone.

The part of her mind which had become used to being in Varia considered killing the boy, but even if he was a psychotic brat, he was her brat.

"Just so you are aware, I'm not splitting the money with you." Mammon said.

"Yeah yeah, I know." Belphegor snorted. "Even if I did get a cut, you would just steal it from me later."

Mammon couldn't exactly deny that, though it took the boy four years to figure out where most of his money kept disappearing to. While he was the youngest member of Varia, he was also the most proactive worker. Surprising for someone who chose to be named after the Demon King of Sloth. Even after finding out, he didn't really seem to mind that Mammon kept robbing him. It wasn't like he had any use for the money anyways.

"If you get yourself caught, I will abandon you." Mammon said, her voice dispassionate. She wasn't entirely sure she would do it. If it was Squalo or Levi, she would leave them to die in a heartbeat and raid all their bank accounts before their bodies were even cold, but Belphegor… "Kiritsugu has already completed his required mission for this quarter, and with everything that has happened, he isn't likely to leave for any government contracts any time soon. It will likely be another two or three months before we will be able to take a crack at it. In the meantime, I'll monitor them and see if they ever leave town."

"Chichichi, I wonder how skilled the son of the legendary Hitman Hunter is? Can't wait." Belphegor said with a laugh.

...Mammon hadn't even considered that.

The boy was supposed to be somewhere between thirteen and fourteen years of age, just a kid. Being adopted, he didn't have Kiritsugu and Irisviel's bloodline. Assuming he was just your ordinary pity case, his talent shouldn't be that great.

How strong could he realistically be?

* * *

**Chapter doesn't necessarily belong right here, nor am I sure I'm going to keep it, but it provides a possibility for the future where Mammon interacts with Shirou, Natsumi and company before the Ring battles, leading to Mammon maybe slicking off to join Natsumi's side as her Guardian of the Mist.**

**The Varia's having a traitor and the Ninth setting up an ambush is canon. So is Ottavio and his various criminal activities that are arguably even more morally questionable than assassinating people. Usually people with a million dollar bounties on their heads probably did something to deserve it, where as human trafficking and selling military weapons and secrets to terrorists is just plan evil.**

**In canon, Mammon/Viper was never given a gender or age. However, when they are temporarily released from the curse, they are a few inches shorter than Belphegor (who is below average height for his age and is sixteen) so they are likely a girl and probably on the young side. **

**In the anime, when Belphegor and Mammon use illusions to sneak into the school, Belphegor goes as a girl, while Mammon is a boy. It would make sense if both were gender flopped.**

**Regardless, in this story, Mammon's a girl.**


	15. Chapter 15

"Wow Natsumi-chan, did you spend all of your day off just preparing this lunch? It tastes amazing." Hana asked as the three girls shared their lunch break together.

"I wasn't the one who made it, it was… my mother." Natsumi lied.

Shirou had made Natsumi an extra large lunch to share with her friends. Or she hoped that was the intention, since it seemed like a little much for her to eat on her own. She was glad to share it with Kyoko and Hana, but didn't exactly want to tell them that Shirou had been the one to make it, in case they got the wrong idea.

Gokudera had almost joined them as well, but Reborn had swooped in and educated the boy about the importance of giving girls their 'girl time'. Natsumi didn't know why Reborn did that, but she was grateful all the same.

After seeing Shirou and Reborn go at it, and even Hibari, Gokudera no longer seemed so scary any more. Part of her even realized that with the way she was now, he was almost no threat to her at all.

That said, she hadn't forgotten how he had tried to kill her little more than a week ago. He might 'worship' her, but her father had often acted as though he had 'worshipped' her mother, when the only thing he really loved was himself. That was all Gokudera's loyalty was, just an act. With the painful over exaggerated smile, it wasn't even a particularly good act.

But… If it was just an act, then why did he sign the Geass?

Well, it wasn't like he had a choice, did he? Reborn made it clear that he could have forced it on the boy if he hadn't been willing.

...A small voice in the back of her mind was telling Natsumi that it was more than just an act, but she refused to acknowledge it. She refused to open herself up to people who showed her such fake smiles, or who laughed such meaningless laughs. She didn't want to experience the betrayal again.

"It really is good. Did something happen and this is your way of celebrating? Or did you just feel like indulging in some self-appreciation?" Kyoko asked with her usual smile as she tried one of the egg sandwiches.

"Well, I guess something good did happen." Natsumi said with a small smile.

"Really? I thought you seemed more lively today, so what's the good news?" Hana asked curiously.

"It was… a medical examination of sorts. It showed really good results."

"A medical examination? Were the injuries from before that bad?" Kyoko asked, seeming to think it was related to the previous Kendo Club incident.

"Oh, no! It was from an older condition!" Natsumi said, panicking a little when she saw her friend's worried expression. "It's kind of personal so…"

"Say no more, we won't press, though we're glad that you are at least having good news about it." Hana said before directing the conversation elsewhere. "Though speaking of injuries, I'm guessing you've noticed that someone has been injured recently." She said, none too subtly glancing in the direction of Yamamoto Takeshi.

The boy's right arm was in a cast and he had an expression of absolute misery on his face as he gazed down at his untouched lunch. The other members of the baseball club occasionally gave him mumbled words of encouragement, but they all seemed crestfallen as well.

At first, Natsumi secretly suspected Reborn of being involved in the injury, in order to force Natsumi to participate in the Kendo Tournament, but found out that Yamamoto had pulled something during practice. He had tore a tendon in his lower arm, something that might be a courier ending injury for a baseball player. He had emergency surgery performed the day before, but only time would tell if it would heal properly or not. Even if it did heal properly, it would take time. Not only was the Kendo Tournament the next day, but the Baseball Season was supposed to start later that month, leaving the team without their star player.

"Just like a monkey to not understand taking proper care of themselves. Honestly rest and recuperation are important you know." Hana said with a sigh.

"Hana, don't you think that is a little too harsh?" Kyoko said.

"If anything, I'm not being harsh enough." Hana snapped. "You wouldn't think I was being too harsh if it was your Onii-chan who got..." Hana stopped as Kyoko gave a sharp intake of breath and winced. "Sorry."

"It's alright. Onii-chan promised me he wouldn't get himself hurt." Kyoko said, though her worried expression was too transparent. "But maybe we should talk to him about it anyways. Ask him to maybe take a day off after the Kendo stuff is over."

"Asking isn't good enough with that guy." Hana said with a shake of the head. "If we want him to stop running around, our only choice is to tie him up and force him to behave."

"Well, considering how heavy a sleeper he is, we might just be able to pull that off." Kyoko giggled at the thought.

Natsumi watched, not sure what to say. It seemed as though Kyoko was really worried about her brother trying too hard and hurting himself, and given what Natsumi herself had seen of him, that might be a real concern. Though she didn't really know how to help.

Maybe she could ask Aunt Iris, Reborn or Shirou about forms of magical healing. Something to do without Ryohei noticing to help him recover before he gets injured. It was a little late to do something like that for Yamamoto. If his injured arm magically fixed itself, it would cause questions, but it could work as a preventative measure.

Then again, she wasn't even sure if Yamamoto was ignorant. Didn't his father know Reborn? He could simply have been lying about not knowing. His laugh didn't inspire confidence in her. It was too much like HIS laugh.

As the girls chatted about the plausibility of ambushing Ryohei in his sleep and trapping him inside of his futon, the door to the room was pulled open and the white haired boxer himself appeared.

"Sasagawa-san, what are you doing here?" The aging literature teacher asked the boy as he looked up from his own lunch.

"I was going to wait until school was out, but I extremely can't wait any longer." Ryohei said, not even looking at the man as his entire body started to tremble.

"...Wha?"

"GAR! THERE'S NO TIME TO EXPLAIN! JUST GIVE ME NATSUMI!" Ryohei's roar shook the newly replaced windows of the room startling everyone.

"Um… sure." The teacher said from where he fell to the floor after falling from his seat in surprise.

"Ysh. Come on, Natsumi-chan." Ryohei said, with a nod to the girl.

"...Huh?"

* * *

"Sasa… Onii-san, what's going on." Natsumi asked after the two had gone outside for a little privacy.

"I'm sorry to call you out Natsumi-chan, but I can't hold it in any longer." Ryohei said placing his hands on Natsumi's shoulders and looking her square in the eyes. "Natsumi-chan, I need you…"

"...Hiieee?" Natsumi squeaked, a blush coming to her cheeks.

Was… Was Kyoko's brother confessing to her!? What was she supposed to do!? She'd never been confessed to by a guy before!? Was she even ready for dating!? Twelve years old was too young, right!?

But as Natsumi struggled to figure out how she was going to respond to this situation, Ryohei finished his sentence. "I NEED YOU TO JOIN MY BOXING CLUB!"

"...HIIEEE!" Natsumi squealed even louder. "What!? Why!?"

"Ever since I saw your fight with Hibari-san this morning, I haven't been able to think of anything else. The speed and precision of your moves were incredible." Ryohei said with an almost far off voice, making Natsumi blush again. "However! While you were predicting and dodging Hibari-san's attacks, your own counters were too weak. It was as if your style was lacking essence."

"Ryohei is correct." Natsumi nearly jumped in surprise as she heard the familiar squeaky voice, turning her head to see Reborn drop out of a tree… only he was dressed in boxer shorts and boxing gloves that were way too big for him. He had an elephant themed headgear on and there was some kind of fake goatee attached to his chin. "Pao pao." He said, lifting up one of his gloves.

"Reborn?" Natsumi said, not understanding his outfit, though it seemed like Ryohei was familiar with it.

"Master Pao Pao, I didn't know you were here!" Ryohei said, his voice full of respect… Natsumi had questions about this, but also was pretty sure she didn't want the answers.

"While Natsumi-chan is a natural when it comes to reading patterns and responding, she lacks any style of fighting. If she was more familiar with martial arts herself, she would almost assuredly have been able to beat Hibari-san." Reborn said with a nod of his head.

"And that is why you should extremely join the boxing club!" Ryohei shouted in excitement.

Natsumi was about to back away and try her best to turn Ryohei down when Reborn cut her off.

"You are getting ahead of yourself, Ryohei-kun. You are trying to recruit her when you have yet to demonstrate your own abilities." Reborn said cooly. "Focus on first proving yourself to Natsumi-chan at the Kendo Tournament if you want to win her over."

"Ysh! I forgot all about it!" Ryohei said seriously. "You are right, Master Pao Pao, I will train extremely hard to win at the Kendo Tournament to prove once and for all that box is the superior sport!"

"Nn, we're counting on you." Reborn said, giving a nod of approval.

It was all Ryohei needed as the boy immediately started running towards the gym. "Wait, Onii-san, your classes!" Natsumi tried to call after him, but he was already lost in his own little world. "I hope he doesn't end up hurting himself."

"There's no need to worry. Sasagawa Ryohei is one of the rare cases of someone being born flame active, and is constantly in a Pseudo Dying Will Mode. That, along with his strong affinity for the Sun Flames, doesn't just give him limitless energy, but also greatly enhances his healing abilities. Even things that don't normally grow back, like teeth, are quickly replaced. So you don't really need to worry about self-harm." Reborn said, trying to up Natsumi's mind at ease. "A pity he lacks self-control though. He is always expending so much energy, that he never builds any of it up. He also focuses too much on what is in front of him, leaving him susceptible to being attacked by groups of even normal people. Otherwise, he would be quite the fighter. He needs a proper teacher to break him of his bad habits."

"Is that what this whole 'Master Pao Pao' thing is about?"

"No. I was just doing that for entertainment. He's a funny guy." Reborn admitted.

Natsumi's eyebrow twitched in response. "I can't believe he couldn't tell that it was you." She finally said with a sigh, trying to change the subject.

"Most people can't see through the enchants on my disguises. You, Illya and Shirou are pretty special in that regard." Reborn said with a chuckle. "Though I think Ryohei would be able to as well, if he wasn't so distracted with thoughts of boxing. He probably knows deep down that it is me, but his conscious mind hasn't caught up to that fact yet."

"Reborn… were you serious about me learning boxing?" Natsumi asked, giving the fake baby a look of suspicion.

"Hm, you picking up a bit of boxing wouldn't be a bad idea, but having you become an actual boxer would be a waste of your talents." Reborn said dismissively.

"My talents?" Natsumi repeated, unsure what Reborn was getting at.

"Tell me, what do you think the purpose of fighting styles are?" Reborn asked, though the question was probably a rhetorical one, as after Natsumi looked at him dummily for a few seconds, he answered it himself. "People practice fighting styles and techniques because it trains the body how to act when there isn't enough time to think. Because the signals you get in the middle of a fight are such a jumbled mess, you need a premade plan in order to deal with what is coming the moment you register it. However, you don't have that problem, do you?"

"I don't?" Natsumi asked, confused as to what Reborn meant.

"When you were fighting again Hibari, you knew what he was going to do, didn't you? You knew his every move before he started making it, giving you plenty of time to plan and react." Reborn said with his usual smile. "Though you lacked the knowledge of combat needed to make proper use of your advantage over him, leading to you making a lot of mistakes. If you had a better understanding of how to plan around him, then No-Good Natsumi would have beaten the terrifying Hibari."

Natsumi didn't know what to say to that. Thinking back, Natsumi realized that he was right. She had known whole seconds in advance the way that Hibari would attack. But even if she knew what he was going to do, she honestly hadn't known how to stop him.

"That's why it would be a waste for you to become tied down with a fighting style. Because with the proper training, you could transcend all fighting styles." Reborn said with a smile. "I achieved something close to this by using my Sun Flames to increase the speed that I can receive and process signals much faster than any normal person. However, even that is just a cheap knock-off of what you might someday be able to do."

"...Grr Reborn, I'm not a fighter!" Natsumi said after shaking herself out of her shock. "I don't know what you think you see in me, but you're just wrong. I don't have what it takes to be a fighter."

She hadn't been expecting Reborn to say these kinds of things to her. Before she was teasing her about her lack of talent and constantly pushing her forward, ignoring her whenever she said 'I can't'. Now he was talking to her about her talent as if it was something that contained endless possibilities.

She wasn't sure which one disturbed her more.

"How selfish. Are you just going to depend on Shirou and the others for your entire life?" Reborn said a little harshly, causing Natsumi to stop. "Each and every one of them would be willing to fight to the death for you. So do you really intend to never even try to return the favor? You say that they are like family to you, but tell me, how far would you be willing to go to protect them?"

"I…" Natsumi didn't know how to respond as she looked into Reborn's disappointed stare.

However, it was Reborn who was the one to break the stare. "Natsumi, look!" He said sharply as he looked up towards the roof.

Glad for the excuse to look away, Natsumi turned her head in the direction Reborn was looking in, but when she saw what he did, her heart jumped up into her throat.

Yamamoto Takeshi was standing on the roof of the school building, on the outside of the safety fence. "What is he doing!?" Natsumi shouted in shock, but she understood all too well what was going on. She had imagined doing it herself once or twice when the bullying had been too unbearable.

Yamamoto's fingers stopped clutching onto the fence and he leaned forward, falling off the roof.

Before she even realized what she was doing, the image of the spinning top came to her. The flames came faster and hotter than that morning, erupting from her forehead as she rushed forward at full speed.

Reaching the ground below Yamamoto, she started to run up the wall, progressing up ten feet before kicking off of it, flying into the falling boy.

She grabbed onto him, pulling him into the princess carry and twisting herself around, focusing his strength into her legs. As she hit the ground, she allowed herself to give, falling backwards in order to burn off the momentum in as long of a time as possible, ending up on her back with Yamamoto held on top of her.

"Ouch…" Natsumi said as her flames died away. She had pushed her muscles a lot harder than she had that morning in order to make it in time, and her legs throbbed from the strain.

"N...Natsumi-chan?" Yamamoto said, noticing that he was not only alive, but that Natsumi had caught him.

"Wha… What were you thinking!?" Natsumi cried, looking at Yamamoto with disbelief. "You got an injury and suddenly you try to jump off a building!? You should value your life more!"

"I…" Yamamoto said, turning his head away. "I failed everyone." He mumbled, his eyes wincing from the shame of it. "The Kendo Team, the Baseball Team, they were all depending on me, and I failed them. Seeing the looks in my teammates eyes… I just…"

"You think that they are upset because you can't play? They're looking at you like that because they can see that you're miserable. No one likes to see their friends miserable." Natsumi said. People didn't like it when their friend got hurt. That was just common sense. Natsumi didn't even have friends until recently and even she knew that much. Was Yamamoto an idiot? "How do you think they would have reacted if they found out you had killed yourself over it?"

"...My mother loved baseball more than anything." His use of the past tense gave Natsumi pause, but she tried to reason with him, only for him to remain distant. It was like he was determined to be miserable. Determined to believe that his life no longer had meaning.

"Natsumi, what are you waiting for?" Reborn said, shocking Natsumi out of her attempts to talk Yamamoto out of going right back up to that ledge. "The special property of your Sky Flames is Harmony. The power to bond people together and sooth the injured heart. If you want to help Yamamoto-kun, all you have to do is bring him into your Sky. He has been trying to enter it for a while now, all you have to do is let him in."

"My… Sky?" Natsumi said, thinking back to the hugs she would get from Aunt Iris. The hugs that never failed to make her feel better. The warmth that would wash over her and make her feel like she belonged.

That was the power of the Sky.

If Natsumi could do the same for Yamamoto, reach out to him with her own flames and wrap him in them. Natsumi imagined the spinning top again, taking control of her flames and started to try to reach out to Yamamoto with the aura of her flames. ...Only for her flames to recoil the moment they came close to the boy before even touching him, bringing with it a sense of unease, and even fear. Not Yamamoto's fear, but her own.

"Reborn… I… I can't." Natsumi said, shaking her head as she snapped out of her flame active state, physically withdrawing herself away from Yamamoto as she did so.

At first Reborn opened his mouth to scold her for saying that she couldn't do something again, only for him to stop as he saw her trembling. "You really couldn't." He said in disbelief.

He couldn't understand it. Yamamoto's flames were only barely starting to wake up and were more than willing to accept a Sky, they were almost hungry for one. Yet Natsumi, who possessed one of the strongest and purest Sky Flames around couldn't bond to him.

Why? What went wrong? Why did his flames reject her?

...No. It wasn't his flames that rejected her. It was her flames that shut him off. Not as a conscious choice of the girl, even with the level of control she had gained, her flames simply would not allow for it.

But why?

It seemed that some emotional therapy was in order, as well as the physical and mental kind. He'd have to talk to the Emiyas about arranging something for the girl. Having her open up to a normal therapist was out of the question, but perhaps either Sella or Irisviel could fill the role.

"It's alright, Natsumi. I understand." Reborn said, putting a hand on the girl's back. "Go and calm down for a bit. I'll have a talk with Yamamoto and sort him out."

"A...Alright." Natsumi said, giving Yamamoto one last look before leaving to find a quiet place to collect herself.

After she was out of sight, Reborn turned to Yamamoto, pulling off his hat and reaching inside.

Yamamoto blinked in surprise as Reborn pulled out a ceremonial tantou knife and tossed it at the boy's feet. "This is what you are looking for, isn't it?" Reborn said. "As someone who inherited the Samurai's spirit, this is the only possible outcome for you after you have failed your comrades. Isn't that right."

"...I…" Yamamoto said as he stared at the knife.

"I'm not going to stop you if you want to do it. It's your life, take it if you want to." Reborn said coldly. Yamamoto looked from Reborn to the knife before reaching out and grabbing onto it, slowly drawing the blade from the sheath. "...If that is what you wish. Then so be it. But before you use that knife, know this. If you kill yourself with that knife, you are killing your father as well."

"What!? Dad!?" Yamamoto gasped in shock.

"Who do you think you inherited your Samurai spirit from?" Reborn said with a slight tilt of the head. "If you can't even live with the shame of life without baseball, how do you think your father would be able to survive the shame of having failed his only son?"

Yamamoto started to tremble as his eyes stared at the knife, horror replacing the acceptance that had been there before.

"Your mother's death almost killed him. You were the only thing that helped him to survive it. If you take your own life, you take the only reason he has to live with it." Reborn said slowly as he watched Yamamoto's reaction. "So, what are you going to do, Yamamoto-kun?"

The boy threw the knife away, almost scrabbling away from it as he did so. "I… I…" He couldn't form words as vile came up in his throat, tears forming in his eyes. Then, he broke down. "Dad, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Yamamoto-kun. Just let it all out." Reborn said calmly. As he patted the boy's side, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, texting Tsuyoshi and telling him to come and pick up his boy.

Yamamoto was still a mess, but with the right kind of attention, he'd be able to come back from his ordeal. Reborn would pay a visit as 'Dr. Rebo' and make sure that the boy's arm made a miraculous recovery. That plus some counseling should straighten the boy back out.

Now, Reborn just had to figure out what had happened, and what to do about his 'No Good' student.

Natsumi had just rejected one of the most promising Rain Guardian candidates in all of Japan, and it was Reborn's job to find out why.

* * *

"Natsumi-chan, are you feeling alright?" Kyoko asked as the final bell of the day sounded. "You've seemed down ever since you got back from talking to Onii-chan."

"He didn't do anything stupid did he?" Hana asked with a worried look, before an idea struck her and she widened her eyes. "Wait, he didn't confess to you, did he!?"

"No! No, that's not it." Natsumi quickly denied. "Onii-san asked me to join the boxing club."

That wasn't what was getting her down, but she didn't exactly want to talk to them about Yamamoto jumping off the roof. Reborn had somehow managed to take care of everything, but that didn't make Natsumi feel any better about it.

Seeing someone try to kill themselves isn't exactly something pleasant.

The fact that her legs still hurt didn't help matters. They had improved since earlier, but she still wished she could just lay down and not put any weight on them for a few hours… only that wasn't going to be an option.

"Oh! Well, I wouldn't worry too much about that. He's asked just about everyone to join the boxing club at one time or another." Hana said, nodding her head in understanding. "I know his picture is in the dictionary next to the word persistent, but you just need to stay steadfast in your rejection."

Kyoko giggled, but didn't deny any of Hana's claims.

"I'll try to remember that." Natsumi said with a heavy smile.

"Hey, Judaime! Are you ready for Kendo practice?" Gokudera said with his usual unnatural smile, which never failed to make her feel uncomfortable. Hana also gave the guy dirty looks, but didn't say anything this time around. "I can't wait to show you the results of my practice."

"That's right, the Kendo Tournament is tomorrow isn't it?" Kyoko said.

"Yeah, I think the plan is for us all to drive out their tonight and stay at a hotel near the tournament location." Natsumi reported.

"It's a shame it had to happen during a school day, otherwise we could have gone and cheered you all on. You'd probably like all the moral support you can get, since you're having to take Yamamoto-baka's place at such short notice." Hana said.

"...I haven't even thought about that." Natsumi said, wilting a little. She was actually going to have to compete in the tournament now.

"I'm sure you'll do fine." Kyoko said cheerfully. "We might not be able to cheer you on during the real event, but we can still watch during practice."

"Thanks." Natsumi said, smiling back as they started to head towards the school gym.

Though as they approached the gym, they saw a large number of people from the Disciplinary Committee standing in front of the door, each and every one of them having their mouths hanging open in complete shock.

"What's going on?" Natsumi asked before seeing past the group and finding out what they were all staring at.

Hibari and Shirou were both standing in the center of the gym, Hibari with his signature weapons and sporting a large bruise on his face, his clothes in slight disarray, while Shirou appeared to be unarmed and untouched.

Hibari was rushing at Shirou, swinging with his usual inhuman speed which most people would have a hard time even keeping track of with their eyes, only for Shirou to counter, deflecting the attacks with much slower movements of his own.

"What the hell?" Gokudera gocked as he watched the two of them fight, though he couldn't really see all of Hibari's moves.

Natsumi could, though perhaps the word see wasn't the right one. Just like before, she could sort of feel what they were doing, the actions that they would take. It wasn't as clear as before, when she was in her Dying Will state, but she could still sort of understand what was happening, and what was going to happen.

Shirou took a step back, dodging Hibari's left hand swing, prompting the boy to give chase with a strong lung as Shirou seemed to be leaning back, ready to continue his retreat. Only he wasn't retreating. Right as Hibari was starting to commit to his lung, Shirou's entire body pivoted around to avoid the attack. His back hand reached out and grabbed Hibari's extended arm, while his forward hand did a wide swing, catching Hibari's follow up attack just as it was starting and batting it aside.

Hibari's body was opened up as Shirou swung himself forward in a headbutt, striking Hibari hard, and dazing the boy and causing him to shift back, losing his balance.

With his balance compromised, Shirou pulled Hibari's arm forward and tossed him hard against the ground before grappling him to the floor in an arm lock. "Haven't you had enough yet?" Shirou asked in an annoyed tone as the prefect struggled underneath him.

"Oh wow." Hana said as she watched with the rest of them.

"You think that's impressive, just look at his eyes." Reborn said, surprising the group with his presence. Natsumi looked closer at Shirou's face and was shocked to find that his eyes were closed. "He gave himself that handicap, hoping to make it at least a little interesting."

"That's insane." Gokudera said in disbelief.

*Pop*

The audience winced as Hibari dislocated his own arm in order to allow him to take another swing at Shirou, who ducked out of the way.

Hibari returned to his feet, once arm hung useless at his side but the other still up, ready for more. A wide grin on his face.

"I was hoping you would have been discouraged by now." Shirou said with a sigh, before he turned his head to the door. His eyes were still closed, but he seemed to have noticed that they were there. "I'm kind of busy, so can't we do this another time?"

Hibari looked to the door as well, seeing them all there and grunted. "It's getting too crowded around here anyways." He said, lowering his weapons and starting to walk away. "We'll continue this some other time."

People stepped out of the way as Hibari approached, not wanting to get caught up in anything he might throw out, but he seemed to simply ignore them and just kept walking, until he got to the doorway, where he slammed his shoulder into the door frame, using it to pop his bones back into place.

"He's crazy." Gokudera mumbled once the guy was out of earshot.

Natsumi had to admit that she agreed.

"What a troublesome kid." Shirou said with a tired sigh.

"He seems to like you." Reborn said cheerfully.

"I know. That's the problem." Shirou said, giving Reborn a withering look. "Why did you have to tell him I was going to be here?"

"He wouldn't have left Natsumi alone if I hadn't." Reborn replied. Shirou gave Natsumi a worried glance, confirming she was alright before letting the matter with Reborn slide.

"I guess I should just count my blessings that Ryohei wasn't here to see it this time. Let's just get into the safety gear and start practice." He said with a shake of the head. "By the way, we're Yamamoto? Wasn't he in your class?"

"Ah…" Natsumi said awkwardly.

"...What?"


	16. Chapter 16

"What do you mean Judaime and I will be in separate cars!?" Gokudera shouted as Sella had declared the parties for travel.

"Girls in one car, boys in the other. Those are the rules." Sella said crossing her arms and glaring down at the boy with enough force to make him back down. "And before you even think about it, the same goes for rooming at the hotel. Natsumi-chan and Illya-chan will be with me and Leysritt-sensei, and you four boys and Reborn will be in a second room."

"And Iris and Kiri will have one to themselves as well." Leysritt snickered.

After a practice that went extremely well, they all went home to gather their things and see their families before gathering together again in front of the Emiya house to load up.

With one car that could seat five for the girls, and a van that could hold seven for the boys, the arrangement seemed obvious, though Gokudera kept saying he should be with Natsumi at all times.

It was only going to be a two hour drive, but she would still rather not be sitting next to him throughout it.

"So, is everyone ready?" Sella asked as they all started to pack their bags into the cars. There were confirmations all around, but before they could get into the cars, someone drove up and parked in front of the house.

They were also someone surprised when Yamamoto and his dad got out of the car. "Yamamoto-kun? What are you doing here?" Natsumi asked, a little uncomfortable. It had only been a few hours since she had seen him trying to jump off a building.

"Even if I can't be there to help, I still wanted to see you all off and wish you the best of luck." Yamamoto said as he walked up.

"Um… thanks." Natsumi said, looking away from him. The visible misery from before was gone, but there was still red in the boy's eyes from crying.

"Hahaha! Hey don't worry! I'm sure you'll all do great!" Yamamoto laughed, throwing an arm around Natsumi's shoulder.

A shiver went up the girl's spin as she pushed the arm away from her, and before she even registered what she was doing, she drew back her hand and slapped Yamamoto across the face. Everyone froze as the sound echoed around them, a large red mark being left on the boy's cheek.

"Stop it. Just stop it!" Natsumi screamed at him. "That laugh, that smile. You're not fooling anyone you know!"

Natsumi's anger melted slightly as she saw Yamamoto's mask peeled back a little, to show the still broken man underneath. "S...sorry."

Natsumi couldn't think of anything to say, so she just turned and went to the car, trying to ignore all the eyes that were on her.

Things became awkward as Yamamoto struggled to give his encouragement before leaving with his father. Then everyone piled into their cars and they started to drive off.

* * *

"Reborn, do you know what Natsumi's reaction earlier was about?" Shirou asked as they drove along. He and Reborn were in the middle two seats of the van, while Gokudera was sitting shotgun and Ryohei and Kusakabe were in the back. It had been clear to everyone that Gokudera and Ryohei needed to be kept separate if they wanted to have any kind of peace.

Reborn was in Illya's old baby seat, not seeming embarrassed by it at all, and claiming it was quite comfortable.

"During lunch break at school, Natsumi caught Yamamoto tried to commit suicide." Reborn reported, his head tilted down.

"He what?" Shirou said, eyes widened in shock. Others in the van also shouted in disbelief.

"He felt as though his injury was a betrayal of everyone who counted on him, and so he tried to take his own life to escape the shame."

"That moron!"

"Pretty much."

"I guess Natsumi's reaction makes sense then. I'm surprised she only gave him the one hit." Shirou nodded. If it had been Rin or Sakura, they would have… The thought depressed Shirou.

"I'm afraid it might be something a little deeper than that." Reborn said with a shake of his head.

"Deeper?" Shirou asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah." Reborn replied with a nod of his head. "Tell me, how much do you know about the Sky Flames?"

Shirou blinked before looking in the back of the car. "Is that something that is okay to talk about here?"

"Kusakabe-kun had some training underneath one of Hibari's relatives, a man with connections to the Triad, a former world's martial arts champion and the world's strongest Storm Flame user. So you don't need to see him as just some civilian. As for Ryohei, you know as well as I do that he is different. Not that he would understand anything you say anyways." Reborn said with a chuckle. "You can speak freely here."

"...Most of what I know about the Flames is based on my own studies, so I can't say it is a complete understanding. I know that each of the seven flame types is generated with its only unique wavelength and color and that these colors correspond to the colors assigned to the different Chakras in Hindu Philosophy, which it had adopted from the all but forgotten Indo European Philosophy. Meaning that the Sky Flames are generated within the Svadhisthana Chakra, located at the root of the sexual organ." Shirou explained. "The Svadhisthana Chakra is connected to the element of water and the concepts of one's sense of self, sexuality, and their ability to form connections with others.

"Counter to what you would expect given its location and purpose, having a healthy flow of energy in this Chakra is supposed to be good for eyesight and insight. Though insight might be the wrong word as the knowledge comes from the flow of energy rather than experience. Instinct would be a better way to describe it. I suppose that if having Sky Flames is a result of having an unusually active Svadhisthana Chakra, then it would suggest that the person is either very empathetic, something of a narcissist, a fetishist of some kind, or some mixture of the three."

"Yep. That sounds about right." Reborn said through a small fit of chuckles as he thought back to Daniela. She fit all three of those categories to a 't', being an incredibly compassionate person, one of the most self-confident people around, and one of the kinkiest women he had ever met. Reborn could personally attest to that last one.

Perhaps if Timoteo had never found out about Reborn having sex with his mother, Reborn would have ended up becoming the man's Sun Guardian instead of going down the road he now walks. It took Timoteo a few years before he got over it.

Reborn regretted nothing. She might have been pushing sixty at the time, but she had been one hell of a MILF and gave Reborn a few nights he'd never forget.

Given the small, 'hm' that Kiritsugu gave, he was probably comparing the list to his own wife and daughter… Well, at least the pair weren't narcissists. Not to Reborn's knowledge, anyways.

"I'm impressed you managed to figure out so much." Reborn said, making a note to look more into this later.

While he had heard about the connection between the flames, the rainbow and the Chakra system before from Fon, he hadn't been aware that the system had originated in Indo European Myth, instead of Hinduism or Buddhism. He'd also not made the connection between the Sky Flame's Chakra and the famous intuition that strong Sky Flame users tend to have. Maybe there was something they had overlooked there.

He'd pass the information along to Fon, to see if he knew anything.

"My perverted master gave me a rather long lecture about the Svadhisthana Chakra and its uses in forming extremely powerful magic bonds." Shirou said with a nostalgic look on his face. "Honestly, I'm pretty sure she is the only person to ever take 'sex magic' that serously."

"What?" Kiritsugu said from the driver's seat, not quite sure he had heard his son right.

"Did you say… sex magic?" Gokudera said in disbelief.

"I'm surprised a magic like that wouldn't be more popular." Reborn couldn't help but laugh.

"I assure you, it's a real thing. Very powerful and very dangerous." Shirou said with a chuckle weakly. "Once you reach orgasm, all of the natural defenses of the souls come tumbling down and you can form any bond that you wish… or inflict any curse."

"I'm not listening! LALALALALA!" Ryohei started to shout, holding his hands over his ears. His face was flushing a bright red color. Unfortunately for him, this quickly got on Reborn's nerves.

*BANG!*

"Reborn!?" Shirou shouted as the 'baby' shot Ryohei in the head.

"It's just a sleeping round." Reborn said calmly as Ryohei began to snore. Kusakabe gulped slightly as he quietly watched the events unfold before him. "Anyways, you are right about the Sky Flames having a connection to the Svadhisthana Chakra, and about its basic nature. The Sky Flames unique quality is referred to as 'Harmony' which allows it to form bonds with the flames of others much easier than the other kinds of flames." Reborn explained. "Not only that, but after a connection is made between the two individuals, the Sky Flame will ease the emotional trauma of the other person. Because of that, I had suggested that Natsumi attempt to form a bond with Yamamoto-kun… only it didn't go well. The moment she tried, her own flames rebounded on her."

"...Rebounded?" Shirou said, frowning as he thought over what Reborn had described. "I've never come across anything like that before, but the flow of energy in the Svadhisthana Chakra is said to be blocked by 'fear'. Perhaps that could have caused a sort of rebound."

"Are you saying that Natsumi is afraid of Yamamoto?"

"It isn't necessarily a fear of being physically harmed. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of loss, fear of rejection... fear of betrayal." Shirou listed them off. "Any of them could cause the Svadhisthana Chakra to close itself off. That's why it is considered to be one of the most subconscious Chakras. If Yamamoto triggered some kind of deep seated fear inside of her, then it could cause the energy to clamp down."

"... 'You're not fooling anyone', huh." Reborn said, thinking back to Natsumi's words when she slapped Yamamoto. "Is she afraid of being deceived?"

She had just recently found out that most of the people around her were part of a shadow world. Then there was her finding out about the seal and how someone she had only ever met once and had pretended to be her grandfather had purposely crippled her. It wouldn't be surprising to find out that she was having a hard time trusting anyone at all given her circumstances.

Though Yamamoto himself seemed as ignorant of everything as he really was, his father being so obviously involved, that could have caused the girl to become suspicious of him. Reborn's own subtle push for the connection might not have helped either.

Then again, she didn't seem to have problems with Ryohei, who was flame active, despite being a civilian. While still not strong, she had a fledgling bond starting to form with the hyperactive boxer. She also didn't have a problem with anyone in the Emiya Family, her newly awoken flames bonding with each and every one of them to some extent. So what was it that was different about Yamamoto that made her have such a negative reaction to him?

Gokudera's bond status was still completely one sided, the same as Yamamoto's had been, but that was to be expected, after the way he showed up. Reborn had already taken into account that that particular bond would take time, if it ever worked out. Getting Gokudera to overcome his own sexism had been the first of his concerns when the boy first showed up. So his lack of connection didn't prove anything.

Yamamoto was a single data point, so trying to analyze it was next to impossible.

It was fine if Natsumi only had an allergic reaction to Yamamoto. There were other fish in the sea, even if finding one that big would be a challenge. She didn't have to be able to bond to absolutely everyone she ever met. However, it was still a worrying sign for her psyche.

"Regardless what the problem is, we need a solution, for the sake of her emotional health. Kiri-kun, could you talk to the girls about having some therapy sessions for Natsumi? Give her a chance to talk it out." Reborn suggested. "I'd do it myself, but it would be better if it was a person she felt more comfortable opening up to, without fear of judgment."

Kiritsugu nodded his agreement. "That would probably be for the best."

Reborn nodded back as he looked out the window at the other cars on the road… and promptly fell asleep.

*Zzzzzz.* *Zzzzzz.* *Zzzzzz.*

Curse his cursed baby body.

* * *

"I just… need to match the bottom numbers doing that cross multiply thing... right?" Natsumi said, not quite possible as she glanced up from her worksheet at Reborn.

"Yep. That's right." Reborn said with a nod, getting a sigh of relief from Natsumi as Illya gave her a smile of encouragement. Natsumi willed herself not to notice the fact that Illya had already completed that problem on her own paper.

After helping them with their school assignments, Reborn had started working with Illya, helping her get ahead in school. He also gave Natsumi the same work in order to help her review.

The removal of the seals hadn't yet caused all those years of school she had stumbled through like a zombie to suddenly make sense, and so Natsumi was being forced to take the same lessons as Illya in order to catch back up to where she needed to be. She was basically six years behind everyone else and needed to have every single subject gone over for her again.

Luckily, Reborn was an excellent tutor, when he wanted to be, and his instructions made a lot of sense, so Natsumi was picking things up rather quickly. He had even brought a blackboard with him to draw pictures for them with… somehow.

After checking into the hotel, all the kids grouped together into one room in order to do some studying. Kusakabe performed his own studies quietly and diligently from the very start, while Gokudera had immediately jumped on trying to help Natsumi until Illya got him in the eyes with some pepper spray, causing Gokudera to scream bloody murder, until Reborn knocked him out for getting in the way.

Thank god. All the weird terminology he had been using had started to give her a headache.

Off to the side, Shirou was helping Ryohei with an assignment for his science class. As the overcharged boy was writing with one hand, he was doing curls with a weight he had brought in with the other… A rather large weight. Natsumi really wished that the throbbing vein on his head was because of him struggling with that weight.

That said, Shirou had told them that Ryohei actually had some of the best grades in their entire year. The guy might not learn effectively, but he did put ten times as much effort into it. It was actually considered to be inspirational by most of the student body. Ryohei was very good at inspiring people.

Any time a motivating speech had to be given, Ryohei would give it, regardless what it was supposed to be about, or who was supposed to give it.

Thinking back, Natsumi remembered him being the one to give the opening speech on orientation day in the place of the school principal. Some of the new students and parents had been moved to tears by his passionate words. According to Shirou, the 'Valedictorian Speech' he gave at last year's graduation ceremony was one of people's favorites, with the real valedictorian not even minding being pushed aside so that he could give it.

It was weird how the guy could have such a way with words, but couldn't manage to get people to join his boxing club… or so Natsumi THOUGHT. As it turned out, the boxing club had dozens of members, some of them not even going to their school.

...Natsumi still didn't want to join.

"How's everybody doing?" Irisviel asked as she peeked her head in through the doorway.

"Everything good! Reborn-san has been helping us study!" Illya said cheerfully.

"It's good to hear that you all are taking your studying seriously, but make sure you get enough sleep tonight. You're going to have a long day ahead of you tomorrow." Irisviel told them with a wink. "Oh, and Natsumi-chan, would you mind coming with me for a bit. There are a few things I'd like to talk to you about."

"Ah, alright." Natsumi said, getting up and going to follow Irisviel. They moved next door, into the room that had been reserved for Irisviel and Kiritsugu, only the man wasn't there. "Where's Uncle Kiri?"

"He's with Sella and Leysritt, establishing a perimeter around the building." Irisviel said with a giggle.

"Is… that necessary?" Natsumi asked awkwardly.

"Probably not, but you know what they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I'm guessing that Reborn and Shirou will probably join them after Illya goes to bed." Irisviel said.

"Is that so." Natsumi said, remembering the mess that Reborn had made in her room with tripwires everywhere. Hopefully they would show more restraint, or else some poor hotel maid would probably be in for a very bad time. "So what is it that you want to talk about?"

"...I was going to ask you the same thing." Irisviel said with her gentle smile. "With everything that's been going on, I'm guessing you might want a chance to talk to someone about it. It isn't like you could go to your own mother for these kinds of things, and Reborn isn't really easy to talk to."

"I guess I do kind of have some questions." Natsumi admitted, thinking of the multitude of things she didn't know about what was going on.

"And I'd be happy to answer any question you have, though I was thinking more about talking about your feelings." Irisviel said, confusing Natsumi. "Your world's been basically flipped upside down in the last ten days. I'm sure you have a lot of emotions you have yet to work out. I know I'm not a licensed therapist, but I was hoping we could just chat together from time to time about what's been happening. It doesn't even need to be recent events. If there is anything you'd like to get off of your chest, then go ahead."

"Uh..."

"Do you not want to?" Irisviel asked with a slightly sad look.

"It's not that I don't want to… I just have no idea where to begin." Natsumi admitted.

"Well, how about we start with some of the simple things. How's your appetite been lately? Have you been sleeping well? Have you had any problems at home? How have your interactions with your mother been lately?" Irisviel started to list off subjects until she provoked a reaction out of Natsumi.

"With mama?" Natsumi mumbled at the mention of her mother.

While she really wasn't a licenced therapist, that didn't mean she was ignorant of the subject. Understanding human psychiatry had been part of her original preprogramming, as it was believed to be important for the 'Ultimate Sky' to be capable of relating to people in order to harmonize with them better.

It's what had convinced Irisviel that they should not press Shirou for information about his past, as she could sense that it was too much for him to handle, even with help. As much as some people looked down on it, denial and distancing were perfectly healthy forms of coping when the subject matter was simply too extreme to ever be accepted. It had taken the mother completely by surprise when Shirou had willingly opened up to them, even if he only lasted two minutes before completely breaking down.

"...Have you and Nana been having problems?" Irisviel asked.

"No! It's just…" Natsumi stammered, trying to think of what to say. "She's been acting weird recently, with Reborn around. She keeps acting as though I'm strange for making a big deal out of him."

"Ah, I see." Irisviel said with a nod of her head. "In order to be able to live his life comfortably, Reborn has surrounded himself with enchantments that stop people from questioning how someone of his… stature can do the things he does. However, people with either strong Sky or Mist Flames, or special individuals like Shirou, can see through them and know that he is unusual. Though you are the one who is seeing things the way they are, your mother probably sees your behavior as some kind of extreme paranoia."

"I guess…" Natsumi admitted weakly, looking away.

Irisviel could tell that there was more going on. "Your problems with Nana aren't only recent, are they?" Natsumi didn't respond and just curled in on herself. "You don't need to talk about it if you don't want to, but I do want to help you."

"...The thing is…" Natsumi started before going into depth as to her relationship with her mother, the passive and hurtful comments about Natsumi's failing school and social life, how Nana would voice her disappointment about Natsumi's lack of 'femininity' in her day to day life, how Nana would say she was embarrassed when the neighbors spoke about their own children.

Nana probably loved her daughter deep down, but they were all the classic forms of parental abuse… save for one. "And any time I say anything negative about dad, she hits me and refuses to cook for me that night."

"Your father?" Irisviel said, pushing the subject in that direction.

"I don't know how mama stands him." Natsumi said angrily. "He does nothing but lie to us. Everything he says and does is a lie. He says that he loves us, but hardly ever bothers to be around, and even when he is around, he always just drinks and lays about the house like a slob." Tears started to form in Natsumi's eyes. "I hate him. I hate him so much. I hate the way he smiles and laughs all the time when nothing is funny. I hate the way that never listens to a word I say. I hate the way mama goes gaga every time he's around and ignores all the bad stuff he does. I hate the way he pretends that he loves us when he doesn't even care about us enough to be bothered to call home!"

As Natsumi started to cry, Iris put her arms around the little girl, using her own Sky Flames in order to try to comfort her.

Just like Reborn, Iemitsu had used enchantments in order to stop people from asking questions about his behavior, but even as a young child, Natsumi would have been immune to such things. It was easy to see how the disconnect between what Natsumi experienced and what her mother saw would be a source of problems in the young girl's life.

Not only that, but the man was rarely ever even part of her life, resulting in the girl having abandonment issues, and issues of trust.

...Natsumi might even have known or suspected that her father played a part in her seal. She might have been able to sense this fact long before she even knew about the Mafia World.

Her comments about how she hated his smile and laugh were most telling about recent events.

"You're right, Iemitsu really is a bastard." Irisviel said calmly as she held the little girl. "Don't worry Natsumi-chan. Kiri and I will make sure that he never comes back. I promise he will never hurt you ever again."

* * *

That night, Natsumi had another dream about Shirou and the purple haired girl. Only this time, someone else was also there, a young woman, barely of drinking age, with short brown hair who was dressed in a long sleeved shirt with yellow and black stripes that reminded Natsumi of a tiger.

While Shirou and the girl were solemn, she was a bubbling spring of energy, shouting and waving her arms about with a smile on her face.

She was childish, more childish than the actual children, but her energy seemed to wash over them, making their troubles seem far away. Natsumi felt herself smile inside as she watched the dream as Shirou exchanged a sort of running banter with the woman, until she got fed up and tackled the boy into a headlock. She liked how they acted almost like siblings and wished she knew more about who the woman was.

Little did Natsumi know she would soon have the chance to meet the tiger for herself.

* * *

**Most people seem to ignore the level of parental abuse that Tsuna received from his mother, as well as his father. Yeah, Nana wasn't Iemitsu levels of bad parenting, as those levels are difficult to achieve. Being that much of a horrible parent takes a lot of commitment, more than it would take to be a half decent parent. Trying to kill your own son ain't easy. But Nana did a lot of things too. **

**She pretty constantly insulted Tsuna's masculinity and intelligence, and pretty obviously preferred Lambo and I-Pin over her own son. Her physically abusing Tsuna whenever he said anything negative about his father is also canon.**

**In some ways, having a parent who is present but constantly putting you down is worse than not having them there at all.**

* * *

**My head canon for why Reborn wasn't Timoteo's guardian of the Sun is that he was caught having sex with the guy's mom around the time of the selection.**

**We are told that Bianchi is Reborn's Third Lover, so there were two others before her. I'm guessing Daniela and maybe Luce.**

* * *

**If anyone remembers that outline that I posted a while back, the Kendo Tournament was supposed to have started on chapter 11... It seems I greatly underestimated just how long this stuff takes. **


	17. Chapter 17

Sawada Iemitsu sighed to himself as he got behind the closed doors of his quarters, allowing the goofy carefree smile he usually maintained to wilt away. His gaze traveled to two large bottles of strong vodka and he momentarily considered trying to drown himself with them.

He doubted it would work. His alcohol tolerance had become too strong of late for a mere two bottles. Besides, the drinking never really made the pain go away, just numbed it for a while.

Dragging his feet, he went over to his bed, reaching under it and pulling out a large three ring binder, setting it down and starting to thumb through the pages. It was a copy of all of the family photos, the one's from the first five years of his marriage, back when they were all happy, he still had a presence in his family. Back before he screwed up.

Looking through the scrapbook, Iemitsu found a picture of himself with a three year old Natsumi at the beach, the girl smiling energetically as she rode on her father's shoulders. Iemitsu had hoped the happy memories would ease the pain, but it only made it sharper.

He could still remember it, his meeting with Nana. He had been 17 at the time and Reborn had recently declared his training to be basically complete before ditching him to go and start training that Dino kid who had managed to become the head of a family at the age of nine. Iemitsu had decided to take his newfound freedom and return to Japan to see the sights and had ended up running into Nana.

She had been so beautiful and pure, fitting the mold of the Japanese ideal with her long dark hair and bright eyes. Iemitsu had been in love at first sight. Iemitsu had been so in love with her that he… might have hid a few things from her… such as everything. How exactly could he tell a pure angel like her that he killed people and trained child soldiers as part of the family business.

He had hid his entire life, wearing a construction worker's uniform that was made to stop people from noticing anything unusual. He was so afraid that Nana would find out about what a sinful man he was, that he didn't even take the outfit off for his own wedding, even though he knew that its effects lingered.

He sometimes wondered if Nana taking it in stride had been because of her own bubbling personality, or if it was the effects of the clothes that made her so cheerful about such an embarrassing scene. She should have kicked him to the curb, sooning up in that dirty orange jumpsuit when she had been in such a beautiful dress.

He didn't deserve her, but that didn't stop him from loving her, and when she had given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Iemitsu couldn't be happy. They spent four, beautiful happy years together as a family, with Iemitsu ignoring most of his responsibilities to the CEDEF in order to be with them. Even his father's untimely death and his becoming the CEDEF's 'boss' didn't drag him away for more than a few weeks out of the year. While he was with them, all of the darkness seemed so far away, and he could just forget about where he came from… until reality came crashing back down on top of him.

He had been hoping that his daughter wouldn't inherit the Dying Will Flame, or at the very least, wouldn't inherit the Vongola Hyper Intuition. After all, he had never shown any signs of having the famous intuition himself, so he figured his children wouldn't. It had been the thing that disqualified him from becoming the next Vongola Boss, as he wouldn't be able to sync with the Vongola Rings.

But while Natsumi was still four years old, she started to be able to see through the magic that had kept her mother happily ignorant. She started to ask him why he always wore such suspicious clothes. She started to ask him where he went when he disappeared. She called him out on being a liar whenever he responded.

It started to create tensions in the family as Nana, sweet angel that she was, would get upset whenever something contradicted what she understood to be going on. She even occasionally started to shout at little Natsumi in her frustration.

Iemitsu did his best to ignore these developments, and continue to pretend that he had the idyllic slow family life going. But even he couldn't ignore it when Natsumi turned five and he caught her with a small glowing orange light on her forehead.

Iemitsu panicked. There was no way things could keep going as they had if Natsumi became an active flame user, and to become active at such a young age was unheard of. With Natsumi being flame active, he would be forced to come clean with Nana and find out what she thought about her husband being a hired killer.

Iemitsu had turned to Timoteo for help, begging the boss to help him do something to stop his wife from finding out. At first, Timoteo only seemed annoyed with Iemitsu, perhaps even disgusted, but in the end, after meeting Nana and Natsumi for himself, he finally agreed to seal Natsumi's flames.

...The next time Iemitsu saw Reborn, his old friend and teacher would give him the pounding of his life. He'd be lucky if he was only thrown through one mountain and shot with a hundred thousand bullets.

Iemitsu had never paid much attention to the spiritual aspects of the Dying Will Flames. He knew that he didn't have even a normal a Sky's Intuition because he had too much negative energy, too many lustful and self-centered thoughts, not enough empathy, but he never paid as much attention to that as to the combat. You didn't need to understand the balance of the Yin and Yang to let go of your fears and start cracking heads.

As such, he had no idea what he had asked Timoteo to do. Not until his daughter had collapsed from a seizure. Suddenly Timoteo's original disgust and his constant asking if Iemitsu 'understood the consequences' started to make sense.

In the following weeks, Natsumi had completely changed. Her old life and energy was all but gone, she would stumble and fall all over the place, she struggled at times to even form sentences, she jumped at her own shadow. Iemitsu hoped that it would become better with time... but it didn't.

Iemitsu smiled and laughed, trying to hide his guilt for what he had unwittingly done, but as if fate was mocking him, even with her flame sealed, little Natsumi could still see through his lies. She might even have sensed what it was he had done to her. His daughter became more and more hostile to him, and Nana became more and more agitated as the enchantments struggled to help her cop, her own psyche deteriorating because of it. Iemitsu watched as his fantasy life crumbled down around him, as the people he loved were irreversibly damaged by him, and when he couldn't watch anymore… he ran away.

He started staying away from home more and more, barely even visiting for more than a week out of the year, until he finally couldn't bear to come home at all. He still set checks back to Nana, making sure the two would never be hurting for money, but that was the extent of his contact. He never even called home to check on them.

Now, he couldn't return, even if he had wanted to. Kiritsugu had found out what he did.

Iemitsu was probably one of the few people in the world who could go one on one with the Hitman Hunter and win, but that was only if the man fought without the use of Mist Flames. Mist Flames included, Iemitsu would be like a plaything in the man's hands. He could just walk straight up to Iemitsu while he was out of his Hyper Dying Will Mode and pull a bullet through his head before he knew what was going on. The curse of being a Sky without any intuition, or even the ability to sense intent.

Iemitsu wondered if he couldn't talk things out with the man, but that would never work. Kiritsugu had killed his own father when his experiments resulted in the death of someone he cared about. He wouldn't care about any of Iemitsu's excuses. Natsumi was like a second daughter to the man. He was more of a father to her than Iemitsu was. If Iemitsu went home now, and broken Kiritsugu's ban, he would be dead by morning, maybe before he even had the chance to see his family.

Reborn would be no better. He'd always hated it when Iemitsu made excuses. He would probably say something like "The time for talking was eight years ago, Pigheaded Iemitsu. If you had any conscience at all, you would have asked for help then."

There was no help. There was no 'cure' for the seal. Timoteo had made sure that Iemitsu understood that. Perhaps if Natsumi became strong enough, she could resist its effect while in Dying Will Mode, but the moment the flames died down, she would be crushed underneath them again.

Sighing to himself, Iemitsu picked up one of the bottles of vodka. Maybe there was enough to at least get a buzz going.

* * *

**This is supposed to just be a chapter of Iemitsu's self justifications for what he did. Notice he is still an absolute bastard and completely responsible for it, but in his own mind, he is among the victims of fate.**

* * *

**There are a few people who seem really angry at Natsumi for invading Shirou's privacy and for planting part of her energy in his soul.**

**...You do realize she is only 12 years old and has absolutely no idea what is going on, right? She doesn't know that the soul dive was anything more than a weird vision, or that her dreams are more than just dreams.**

**And while I haven't show Shirou getting his own side of this yet, that doesn't mean that isn't coming up.**

* * *

**A discussion on Iemitsu's candidacy for being the Vongola Tenth.**

**On the day that Tsuna first activated his Hyper Dying Will form and used the Vongola Hyper Intuition, Checkered Face set off his minions to free Xanxus, in order to force Tsuna to take the Vongola Rings or die. Xanxus even accuses them at the end of the Ring Battles, saying that it was their plan all along for him to lose so that Tsuna would have the rings.**

**Thus it is logical to assume that the Vongola Hyper Intuition is a requirement for using the Vongola Rings, as if it was only the Sky Flames and genetics, then Tsuna would have been forced by Checkered Face to take on the rings the moment he had been hit by a Dying Will Bullet. Or indeed, Iemitsu would have stepped up.**

**At the time canon starts, Iemitsu is 30-31, still younger than Timoteo was when he became the Ninth. (He'd also be around the same age as Xanxus, if Xanxus didn't age while in the ice) So we have to assume that there is something else that disqualifies Iemitsu. We know that Iemitsu has Sky Flames and is pretty powerful in his own right, as with the knowledge and skills of his Ten Years Future self, he is able to fight Tsuna on pretty equal terms (when Tsuna wasn't having an understandable emotional breakdown) while not having a Vongola Ring, or any equivalent. **

**However, we see evidence that Iemitsu lacks the ****Vongola Hyper Intuition, as even when close enough to the fake Timoteo to kiss his hand, he still can't tell the difference. Nor could he avoid getting shot. We also know that despite not being of Vongola blood, Xanxus is supposed to have something like Hyper Intuition (just not as extreme), which would explain why Xanxus still thought he was eligible, even though Iemitsu wasn't. **


	18. Chapter 18

Natsumi saw the overhand swing coming at her and performed a wide sweeping parry, which was common when used for dealing with strong attacks.

Only this wasn't a strong attack. Though the form and footwork were the same, it was a faint. The momentum her opponent saw that she was performing her wide sweep, he would pull back on his attack, and allow Natsumi's sweep to hit nothing before taking advantage of the opening.

Only this strategy itself also left an opening.

Natsumi jumped forward, turning her parry into a slash.

"Point! Match over! The match goes to Namimori Middle School!" The ref declared, leading to Ryohei, Gokudera and Illya erupting into cheers. Natsumi let out a sigh of relief before remembering she had to bow to her opponent one last time for sportsmanship before returning to the sidelines, where the rest of her team was waiting for her, along with Sella and Leysritt, as their club advisers, and Illya, who was dressed up as a cheerleader.

Even when not in Dying Will Mode, Natsumi could still get a good feel of how her opponents would act, and after realizing it the day before, Shirou had coached her on how to take full advantage of this by setting traps. Shirou said that Natsumi's ability to read people was similar to something called the 'Eye of the Mind', and had known how to make the best use of it.

Even though she was still weaker and slower than almost everyone there, she had been able to win five of her seven matches that morning, something that she had never believed possible.

She did feel guilty, using this unusual talent of her in order to basically cheat in a sporting event against people who had spent years trying hard to learn how to do it the right way. But if Natsumi was cheating, then what was the rest of her team?

While Kusakabe had managed to win five out of six matches and Gokudera had won four of his seven matches, Ryohei and Shirou had both yet to have a point scored against them, save for one penalty placed against Ryohei by a ref who believed his shouting to be unsportsmanlike conduct. Ryohei's absurd speed and strength aside, having Shirou fighting against normal middle school students was simply unfair. Natsumi was pretty confident in saying that he could probably take on all the other contestants blindfolded if she had wanted too, even without using his superhuman strength.

With Shirou and Ryohei around, only one of the other three had to win their rounds in order to win them the entire set.

"Way to go, Judaime." Gokudera said as Natsumi got back to the rest of her team as Kusakabe went out for his match. The silver haired boy held out a bottle of water for her as she smiled one of those smiles that left the girl uncomfortable.

"Thanks." Natsumi said as she took the water bottle. She almost wanted to just dump the thing on her head to cool off. She had been wearing the protective gear for nearly three hours now and it was uncomfortably hot.

As it turned out, there were a LOT of middle schools in the area which meant that even a prelim meant to select the top eight of them to go on to nationals was time consuming. Especially because someone on the board planning on this stuff didn't want the standard tournament format for the selection and instead made it triple elimination rather than just single, so until a school lost three sets, they were still technically in the tournament.

While this did mean that one bad match up wouldn't result in your school losing their shot at a spot in the national tournament, it did mean that the entire thing was dragging on, even with eight different matches all going on at once. Natsumi was almost scared that it would extend into another day.

They had started in the early morning, but even as it started to reach the afternoon, and out of the thousand schools that were registered in the tournament fewer than a hundred of them still remained.

"After this we will be given an hour and a half to have a lunch break, while blocks 3 and 4 run through their rounds." Shirou said as he watched Kusakabe match. "As I thought. Their faint based style is a bad matchup for him." No sooner did he say it than Kusakabe took his first point against him. "This next round they will be over confident and go for a strike to Kusakabe-san's left side. He'll catch it and counter for the point."

Sure enough, it all played out just the way Shirou said that it would.

"That's just scary." Gokudera mumbled.

"Onii-chan is amazing!" Illya said with a wide smile.

"How do you do that?" Natsumi asked. She might be able to read the flow in the moment, but she couldn't make such predictions so far ahead.

"A consequence of fighting within a set of rules, and with very specific weapons and styles. It makes everything predictable if you have enough insight into the fighters' habits. While I can't see the future, I can make some good guesses as to what might happen." Shirou said with a shrug. "It's something you can pick up with enough experience."

"You can think of it like rock paper scissors, while it seems on the surface that it is all just a game of chance, there are psychological tendencies involved that could help you win, if you understand them. Kusakabe and Gokudera are particularly easy to read, as Gokudera follows premade strategies to the letter until something breaks and Kusakabe is dependent on his size for an advantage." Reborn commented. "Kusakabe-kun is going to end up losing the final point, trying to press his earlier momentum to end the match quickly and get parried. I'm guessing in the first seven moves."

"Something like that." Shirou agreed with a small nod of the head.

"No way…" Illya said a little crestfallen. They already had the three wins for this set, so it didn't actually matter, but she felt bad for Kusakabe, who was giving it his all.

"So far the matches have been pretty easy, but we are getting to the point where most of the weakest teams have already been eliminated." Shirou said. "We should start scouting our opponents soon and figure out our round orders and individual strategies in order to take advantage of weaknesses and minimize their strengths. Gokudera's match should probably be our accepted loss, if needed."

"Fuck you!" Gokudera growled, earning him a slap to the head from Sella for swearing in front of Illya.

"Is that really necessary?" Natsumi asked. "We've been doing pretty well so far, and with you and Onii-san on our team, I can't see us failing to qualify for nationals."

He might have had a point, but they were already more than halfway through their matches and had yet to really lose any of them.

"Overconfidence is the enemy. A warrior must never assume that they have won until after the dust has settled." Shirou said with a slight smile as the ref called the match, Kusakabe losing on the seventh move. They just needed to win at least two more of their five matches to win a stop in nationals.

"Sorry, everyone." Kusakabe said as he took off his helmet. He was clearly disappointed at his own performance, though there was nothing that could be done.

"You all have only had one week of training. You're doing better than anyone could have expected of you." Shirou said with a small shake of the head.

"I'm sorry I cannot live up to your example, Emiya-senpai." Kusakabe said with a bow.

"That… was supposed to be a compliment." Shirou said awkwardly, before giving Ryohei a pleading look.

"Ysh." Ryohei said before coming forward and placing hands on Kusakabe's shoulders. "Chin up. There isn't anyone in the world who's never been knocked down before. That is simply life. What separates the men from the failures is that a man never lets being knocked down keep them down. Even after the count is up, a man still pushes himself to stand on his own power."

"Sasagawa…-senpai." Kusakabe said, blinking in surprise at the serious expression on Ryohei's face.

"Men always stand back up. We do it, not because we want to win, but because we know that all of this, everything that we have done, everything that we are doing now, and everything that we will ever do, is just preparations. And that when the chips are down, when real men are needed, when we can't afford to be knocked down, we will be ready to put our lives on the line. That is what it means to be a boxer." Ryohei finished his speech, leaving everyone staring at him with held breath.

*Ryohei cast Motivational Speech at the 5th level.*

*Up to five characters that can hear him gain 15 temporary hit points and have advantage on Wisdom saving throws for 1 hour. If an affected character is hit by an attack, it has advantage on the next attack roll it makes. Once an affected character loses the temporary hit points granted by this spell, the spell ends for that character.*

*All characters gain an inspiration.*

"Ysh! Now it is EXTREMELY my turn!" Ryohei shouted, picking up his helmet and almost seeming to glow as he walked out onto the field, the crowd's voices dampand by his heroic strut.

"What just happened?" Illya asked with a tilt of her head.

"...I need a smoke." Gokudera mumbled, patting his body in an attempt to find where he had hidden his lighter.

* * *

Natsumi gave a sigh of relief as she splashed water on her face.

She had been in the Kendo protective gear for hours now, and the heat and sweat had been starting to build up. So she was glad for the opportunity to take it off and cool down a bit. She was still in the sweaty uniform, but at least the thick protective padding was off.

The group had split up to go to their respective bathrooms while Leysritt, Kiritsugu and Irisviel went to pick out a spot for them to have a picnic. Shirou had packed two whole coolers full of food the day before. When Illya asked if the food would still be good after almost an entire day, he admitted to having enchanted the coolers in order to make the food inside of them last better. It wouldn't have completely fresh out the oven taste, but it would still be better than anything they would get from the tournament committee.

"You two all done?" Sella asked Natsumi and Illya as she dried her own hands.

"Yeah, I think so." Natsumi said as she picked up her various things in a strained duffle bag.

"We should probably just go to try to find Irisviel's group. Something tells me that the boys might take a little longer to take care of business." Sella said with a smile.

While the ladies' bathroom had been almost completely empty, the men's room had a bit of a queue going for it. Made sense given how skewed the population of men to women in Kendo was. Though there was technically no division between sexes in the group competitions, Natsumi hadn't seen more than three or four girls that entire day. Same went for the people coaching the different clubs.

Leysritt had jocked that their group was the envy of everyone there, because they had five beautiful girls in it. Natsumi wanted to roll her eyes at the comment and say that people only think like that in cartoons and that there were some schools that had brought cheer squads with them… but they did seem to be getting a lot of stares. She supposed that Sella, Leysritt and Irisviel all looked like they could be models, while Illya looked really cute dressed up as a cheerleader.

Illya had tried to insist that Natsumi was pretty too… but given that she was dressed in the Kendo uniform and usually had a helmet on, she highly doubted half the people even realized she was a girl. She appreciated the younger girl saying so though.

"I hope all the boys get through quickly. Ryohei wouldn't stop going on about how you need thirty minutes to digest before an 'extreme' workout. I'm kind of worried that he won't eat at all if he doesn't have that extra time." Natsumi chuckled.

It had been something that the boxer had insisted on when Shirou asked what people would want for lunch, something that would digest quickly and was high in nutritional value. Shirou didn't seem to worry as much about it, but conceded to the man's wishes.

Natsumi wondered why Shirou wasn't worried about cramps when Reborn explained to her that Flame Active individuals tended to process food a lot faster than normal people, especially those with the Sun element.

Ryohei treated his body like a temple, and did everything he could to take care of it, reading all kinds of healthy living guides. It had also been the reason he punched Gokudera in the face when the boy approached him with a lit cigarette, afraid of the second hand smoke.

"I'm sure they will be fine, though if we get to the picnic first, that means we get the first pick of all the snacks." Sella said with a slightly teasing smile.

"I didn't realize you had a gluttonous side, Sella-sensei." Natsumi said with a sigh, closing her eyes for dramatic effect as they walked along.

She should have kept them open.

As Natsumi reached a corner, she heard a loud squeal, and barely even started to turn her head when someone ran into her at high speeds, the both of them tumbling to the ground.

"Ouch…" Natsumi said as she rubbed her shoulder, slightly more glad for the thick clothing cushioning her.

"I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" The girl who rammed into Natsumi asked as she helped Natsumi back up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Natsumi said before looking at the girl's face and blinking in surprise.

While the girl was taller than Natsumi was and looked to be a few years older, her appearance was startlingly similar. Hair color, eye color, complexion, general shape of the face, it was almost like looking in a mirror. The only difference being that this girl's hair was a bit shorter. She also had a lively energy about her that Natsumi rarely had.

Even so, the two of them looked more alike than Natsumi and her own parents, especially with them both wearing Kendo practice clothes on, leading to Illya looking back and forth between the two saying "Long lost older sister?"

But even beyond their similarities, Natsumi thought that she seemed familiar, as though she had met this person somewhere else before, but couldn't put her finger on it.

"Sorry, I'm such a klutz. Stuff like this always happens whenever I'm in a hurr… EEII!" The girl gave a loud squeal as she looked down at the ground. "My lunch." She mumbled weakly as she fell back down to her knees, mourning the loss of what appeared to be one of the lunches they were handing out to the participants who hadn't remembered to bring their own.

"Sorry." Natsumi said as she weakly tried to help pick the stuff up.

"It's not your fault. I shouldn't have been running." The girl replied with a sigh, even though her stomach gave a small rumble.

"Is everything alright? We heard a yell." Shirou said as he and the other boys came bolting around the corner, though he froze when he saw Natsumi and the other girl, recognationish and shock entering his ever so transparent expression. "Fuji-n…" He started, but then his words seemed to get caught in his mouth. Shaking his head, he looked over the situation, before a sort of smile came over his face. "Some things never change."

"Um… Have we met?" The girl asked with a tilt of her head.

Shirou chuckled weakly in response before answering with his own question. "Would you like to join us for lunch?"

* * *

"So good!" Fujimura Taiga squealed as she ate one of the egg sandwiches that Shirou had prepared the day before. The sound of it throwing the boy back almost twenty years by his reckoning, to the time when Kiritsugu had first brought him in and Taiga had only been a highschool student. Those happier times. While the age difference between the two of them had changed dramatically, it seemed as though the age gap between her and Illya was pretty much the same, with Illya turning nine soon while Taiga was in her final year of mid school.

Odd, considering that everyone but him seemingly born fourteen years later than in Shirou's original timeline, with Shirou only being seven years later. Rin could probably have explained how this all came to be, but Shirou personally didn't worry about it too much. Thinking about such things too much only led to you going as mad as Zelretch.

Taiga's hair was short, like how she wore it later in life, rather than the ponytail she had in highschool, but it wasn't the hair that made Fuji-nee Fuji-nee. It was the boundless energy, and the paradoxical mixture of being an overbearing adult and a completely helpless child that made her who she was.

Because Shirou had been basically watching Natsumi grow up, it hadn't really occurred to him how much Natsumi was like his old surrogate older sister, not just in appearance, but in their slightly klumzy nature and how they always seemed to be running late for something… as well as their OTHER similarities.

"Feel free to have as much as you like. I made plenty." Shirou said as he relaxed.

"Wow, you made all of this yourself?" Taiga asked. "You must be an amazing cook."

"Yep, Onii-chan is the best!" Illya said as she ate some of her mini sausages.

"Some might even call his cooking 'magical'." Reborn joked with a teasing grin.

Shirou was going to roll his eyes at the fake baby's joke, but Natsumi gave a small choking sound that didn't sound like laughing. "Hm, is something wrong?" Shirou asked the girl as she struggled to get the food to go down the right way.

"I... I'm alright." She said, turning a little red as she looked at the meal in front of her. "Shirou-senpai, you didn't… put any of your blood in… the food, did you?" She asked, a little worried.

Shirou couldn't help but snort with laughter. "I don't make a habit of doing such things."

"Why would Onii-chan put his blood in it?" Illya asked.

"No reason." Natsumi said, avoiding the girl's questioning eyes.

"Man, bumping into you is the luckiest thing to happen to me all day." Taiga cheered.

"Luck huh." Shirou hummed as he swirled his tea a little, looking up at the clouds in the sky.

Even since the first time a Magus figured out how to measure 'Luck', there had been debates as to what 'Luck' even was. Some believed that it was the power to defy one's fate, while others claimed it to be the opposite, saying that it was being fated to succeed or fail, despite the odds stacked against you, or in your favor. Zelretch admitted to knowing the true answer, but refused to tell anyone just so that he could laugh at them.

Shirou tended to lean towards the former option, but in the end, it was all the same. Archer, who according to Rin had the lowest 'Luck' that the Holy Grail's summoning system was capable of recording, had been unable to succeed in escaping his own fate, even when given a functionally infinite number of tries.

Was that his luck being too bad to escape his fate, or was it that his fate was to fail all along?

The concept of fate was one that frightened Shirou, especially in this new life. Even in a completely different timeline, with completely different situations, he still managed to be found by Kiritsugu. He still became Illya's older brother. He still ended up running into Fuji-nee. He still ended up involved in a Moonlit World. All if it happened without Shirou's input, and with him almost being powerless to stop it.

Was all of it fate?

It frightened him, because while everything so far had been positive, what about everything else? What about his mother and father's deaths from the Grail's curses? What about the Grail War in general? ...What about Illya?

"So what school are you guys from?" Taiga asked cheerfully as she tried to make small talk.

"We're from Namimori Middle School." Natsumi replied.

"No way! So you're also from one of the currently undefeated schools." Taiga said before grinning and puffing out her chest. "I guess that means we will probably be seeing each other on the field of battle soon. My Homurahara Middle School team also hasn't lost a match."

"Huh? If your teammates are capable of carrying along a klutz girl like you, then they must be pretty good." Gokudera scoffed. He had been moody ever since they had gone to the bathrooms, when the boy decided to use explosives to scare everyone else away, so that he could get back to Natsumi sooner, and Shirou slammed his head into the ground and threatened to slit his throat open if he ever tried that again.

"What did you say, you delinquent brat!?" Taiga shouted at the boy, causing a collective shiver in some of the younger members of the group as they all swore they heard a tiger's roar. Shirou only smiled and sipped his tea, letting the nostalgia carry him away. Ryohei was almost giddy with excitement after feeling the girl's fighting spirit. "I'll have you know that I am the star of my school's team!" She huffed before sitting back down and grabbing a third riceball.

"In that case, you should EXTREMELY join our boxing club!" Ryohei said, a fire burning in his eyes.

"Boxing club?" Taiga asked through a mouthful of rice.

"That's right! Though we are taking part in this Kendo Tournament, our true identity is the EXTREME Namimori Middle School Boxing Club!" Ryohei shouted, so loud that people all around were turning their heads to see what was going on.

"...Really?" Taiga asked, looking to Natsumi for confirmation, to find the girl frantically shaking her head.

"It's true that we aren't really the Kendo Club, but only Sasagawa-senpai is part of the boxing club." Kusakabe explained.

"Wait, if you aren't part of the Kendo Club, then why are you competing?"

"The entirety of the school's Kendo Team and its advising instructor were all recently expelled. Emiya-senpai was selected to assemble and train a new team in time for this competition." Kusakabe said, nodding his head in Shirou's direction.

"Emiya?" Taiga said, frowning a bit before her eyes popped open wide. "Now I remember! You're that guy who won the nationals in the Kyudo competition last year! The one who never missed the center of the bullseye even once! Emiya Shirou!"

"Oh, right. That." Shirou said, awkwardly looking away. Honestly, he meant to miss one or two shots… but Illya had been there and he might have gotten a little carried away to make her happy…

"That's right, Onii-chan has never missed a shot ever!" Illya said happily.

"Geez, so not only are you a genius when it comes to archery, you also know Kendo, huh?" Taiga said. "I remember the news article saying that you weren't even in the Kyudo Club either. Are you trying for a repeat performance?"

"Not really. It's just our school's prefect badging me to do it and me finding just going along with it is easier than dealing with him." Shirou said with a shrug.

"Emiya-senpai." Kusakabe said with a slightly worried expression.

"So… not even Natsumi-chan is really into Kendo?" Taiga said, looking at the girl with a hopeful expression, only to see the look on Natsumi's face and immediately know the answer. "And here I was thinking I finally found another girl who was into Kendo." She said, sulking a little.

"Well…" Natsumi said awkwardly, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't hurt Taiga's feeling.

Unfortunately, Gokudera was there.

"As if Judaime would waste her time with something like a Kendo Club. Our boss has more important things to do." The silver haired boy scoffed.

"Gokudera!" Natsumi shouted at the boy in frustration. Would it hurt him not to be an ass for five minutes?

"Judaime? Boss?" Taiga said, seeming to only pick up on those words.

"That's right." Reborn chuckled. "Natsumi-chan here is going to be the Tenth Generation head of the Vongola Famiglia."

"Reborn!" Natsumi said, shocked to hear him say it to just some girl they randomly met at competition.

Though if that shocked her, then Taiga's reaction was the proverbial bombshell. "You too, huh?" Taiga said with a weak chuckle.

"Me too?" Natsumi repeated, not understanding what Taiga meant, until someone else joined the scene.

"There you are, Taiga-chan. I was wondering where you had run off to this time." Said an old man dressed in an old cotton Yukata, with a tiger striped coat over it. With his wrinkled face seemed, along with his clothes gave him the look of a fearsome beast. Even his friendly smile seemed a bit dangerous. The moment Natsumi saw him, the word 'Yakuza' popped up into her head. "You were supposed to meet up with me by the front gates, and here I find you having a picnic without me."

"Sorry grandpa, I… might have forgot." Taiga said, rubbing the back of her head and giving the man one of her big smiles.

"That's just like you. Though I have to admit, you've managed to find yourself in interesting company." Raiga said. As he walked forward he glanced at Kiritsugu, Irisviel and Reborn. "I don't think we have ever formally met, but let me introduce myself. I'm Fujimura Raiga, leader of the Fujimura Group and Taiga-chan's grandpa."

"The Fujimura Group?" Natsumi said, the pieces falling into place as Kiritsugu returned the greeting.

"That's right, Fujimura Raiga is the leader of a Yakuza group that operates out of the city of Fuyuki. Which makes Taiga a Yakuza Princess." Reborn said cheerfully.

"Hiieee!" Natsumi squealed.

"Yeah, that's right." Taiga said, chuckling a bit. "But I don't have any intention of going into the family business, so I usually just pretend like it has nothing to do with me. I'm guessing from your reaction earlier that Natsumi-chan is the same way. Honestly, who'd ever want to be a shady business dealer for the rest of their lives?"

"Oy, Taiga-chan, don't say that in front of Reborn-sama." Raiga said with a sigh. "First you abandon me at the gate to go eat lunch with your new friends, now you are just making me look bad. What happened to the cute little tiger cub who loved her poor old grandpa?"

"Grandpa, don't call me that in front of everyone!" Taiga cried, blushing a bit in embarrassment.

"Would you like to join us? There is plenty of food to go around." Shirou offered Raiga, completely at ease with the old man.

"Thank you for the invitation." Raiga said before sitting down and grabbing a riceball of his own.

Kiritsugu glanced at his son with a single half raised eyebrow, surprised that he was so calm about this Yakuza boss, when he still treated Gokudera and Reborn with near enough open hostilities. Shirou supposed that since he never went to Fuyuki, this Kiritsugu never became friends with Raiga. He had no way of knowing that Raiga had been the one to arrange his funeral, or that he had Taiga named Shirou's legal guardian.

"Does this mean that Fujimura-san is a magical girl too?" Illya asked, looking at Taiga with a new level of curiosity.

"Magical girl?" Taiga and Raiga said together, not having a clue what Illya was talking about.

Reborn jumped up onto Raiga's shoulder and started to whisper into the man's ear, the Yakuza boss going quiet as he listened, then the old man burst into laughter. "That is the most adorable thing I have ever heard!" He boomed, holding his gut as he laughed.

"What? What is it grandpa?" Taiga asked, until Raiga leaned in and passed the word onto his granddaughter. "That is so CUTE!"

"Wha? What did Reborn say?" Illya asked, confused by the sudden laughter, that cute flustered look on her face.

"Oh don't you worry little girl. It's just an inside joke." Raiga said waving Illya down. "And yes, yes my little tiger cub is a 'magical girl' too."

"Grandpa!" Taiga said, blushing again from either the nickname or being called a magical girl. He didn't seem concerned with his objection and just continued to laugh his throaty laugh.

Shirou smiled, remembering how Raiga had been easily charmed by Illya in his previous life too. As gruff looking as the man was, and as much less-than-legal loaning and security work he did, he had a soft spot a mile wide.

Even in another world, some things never change.

* * *

**Ryohei: Cleric with EXTREMELY high Strength, Endurance and Charisma, but low Wisdom and Intelligence. Worships EXTREME boxing.**

**Shirou: Oath Breaker Paladin/Warlock (Since once you connect him to a larger power source he cleans house.)**

**Natsumi: Sorcerer (Since all her power comes from good genetics and just casts Fireball on people all day every day)**

**Reborn: Gunslinger (Action surge for days)**

**Illya: Sorcerer (Same as Natsumi)**

**Hibari: Berserker (Eats damage without a care)**

**Gokudera: ...Ranger? (Since no one cares)**


	19. Chapter 19

"Point! Match over! The round goes to Namimori Middle School! The set goes to Namimori Middle School with five wins!" The ref declared after Natsumi managed to score a final point.

"It was a good match. You were amazing." Her opponent said, seeming a bit dumbstruck.

"Um… Thank you." Natsumi replied, returning the bow.

After lunch, Shirou started to have the group watch each of the remaining teams and plan on how to best approach them, coaching all the other members on the exact weaknesses of their styles and preparing openings and counters before the fights even started.

It made everything… frighteningly easy, as they swept the three rounds after lunch. Shirou accurately predicted the turn ordering and the strategies of the three teams and instructed them on the exact counters. And almost as if seeing Shirou do it was taken as a challenge, Reborn often threw his own two cents in on how to best set up to break their opponents' will and throw them off their game.

The two of them were terrifying as they quoted great military leaders of the past. Natsumi couldn't even imagine what a game of chess between the two would be like.

"Way to go, Natsumi-chan!" Illya cheered as they left the fighting area.

"Thanks." Natsumi replied, giving the girl a pat on the head, causing her to pout slightly.

The others also said words of encouragement… or worship, as they headed back to where Kiritsugu and Irisviel were waiting, only to find Taiga and Raiga waiting for them there. "Congratulations on maintaining your undefeated status." Irisviel giggled.

"Way to go!" Taiga said with a wide grin.

"You too, Fuji-nee." Natsumi replied with an awkward smile. She wasn't used to people congratulating her on her physical performances.

After Shirou had jokingly started calling Taiga 'Fuji-nee' the cheerful girl decided that she liked the nickname and insisted that Natsumi and Illya call her it as well.

"Well, your group's undefeated status won't last forever. After all, you're going to have to fight my school within the next few rounds." Taiga said, puffing out her chest.

"...You haven't been paying attention to the boards again I see." Raiga said with a sigh. "All of the other schools have already been eliminated. You are the only two left."

"Huh? But I thought there were supposed to be 12 rounds, I haven't even had my tenth yet." Taiga said.

"And you won't. It would have taken 12 rounds if your two schools weren't both undefeated. As is, they are filling up 6 schools worth of slots." Raiga explained. "Because it is only the two of you left, the next round is the final round."

"YSH! I'm EXTREMELY pumped!" Ryohei shouted, clutching his fist. "Just one round more to go and we will prove once and for all that boxing is the superior sport!"

"Onii-san." Natsumi said as she looked around at the several hundreds of stares that Ryohei was getting them.

"Tch, what's so great about boxing." Taiga said, rolling her eyes. "All it is is a bunch of guys in their boxers punching each other's lights out. No class at all."

"WHA!?" Ryohei shouted, flushing bright red in embarrassment from the insult. "Says the person whose sport is just a bunch of people poking each other with sticks!"

"What did you say!?" Taiga growled back before shouting her own insult.

"Um… should we stop them?" Illya asked as the two of them continued to make a spectacle of themselves with their childish back and forth 'argument'.

"No. They're fine." Shirou said, not really concerned about the two of them. Illya looked up at her brother to see a slightly serious look on his face as he watched Taiga.

"Idiots." Gokudera said with a sigh as the shouting continued.

"When my team clubbers you in the finals, you have to admit that Kendo is the better sport!" Taiga shouted.

"And when my boxing team extremely wins, you have to join my boxing club!" Ryohei counted.

"Deal! Hope you are ready to admit defeat!" Taiga shouted before stomping off, presumably to meet up with her team.

"Ysh! Victory now is more important than ever!" Ryohei said, a wide grin on his face and his eyes on fire… literally, there was dying will glowing in his eyes.

"Onii-san, calm down a little." Natsumi said, worried that the boy's already ridiculous speed and strength would be amplified even further and cause a scene that couldn't be explained.

"Hahaha, you don't need to worry. I had my boys put up a barrier around the stadium. No one will notice or be able to record if you and your friends use a bit of your 'magical girl' power to spice things up. So feel free to go wild." Raiga said as he watched his granddaughter go. "A loss might do her a world of good."

"I don't understand what that means! But I'm EXTREMELY pumped!"

"You want her to lose?" Natsumi said in surprise, as Ryohei was already starting to go wild.

"My little tiger cub hasn't lost a sword fight in almost two years. With her... unusual advantages, she is hardly ever even challenged, and it has caused her growth and enthusiasm to plateau." Raiga said sadly. "Until she ran into you all today, she was thinking of giving up on Kendo, saying…"

"What point is there in practicing when you cannot improve." Shirou said, startling the man. "It's the same reason I never joined the Kyudo or Kendo Clubs myself. There simply wasn't any point."

"Shirou-senpai?" Natsumi had never really thought as to why Shirou never joined any clubs when he was so skilled at them. She had mostly just believed that it was because he was busy with his repair work and secretly being a magician. She hadn't considered how lonely it must feel, being so far above everyone else's capabilities.

Natsumi had always had the opposite problem.

"Well then Natsumi, it sounds like you are going to have to give it your all to teach Taiga-chan some humility." Reborn teased.

"Reborn!?" Natsumi panicked. She didn't want to fight against Taiga. She hadn't even considered it as an option. Was that even possible for her?

No way! She couldn't do it!

"Sorry Reborn, but I'm going to have to ask that this one be left to me." Shirou said calmly.

"Oh, the Untouchable Prince against the Tiger Princess. Interesting." Raiga said with a slight grin that looked a little sinister.

Reborn looked at Shirou, curious about the level of calm that the boy had whenever he said it. "What's the fun in you fighting her at your full strength?"

"I won't be at my full strength. I intend to fight without the use of flames or magecraft." Shirou replied.

"...Are you sure you can beat her like that?" Reborn asked with a slight tilt of the head. Shirou had managed to hold his own against Yamamoto Tsuyoshi using nothing more than normal human strength, but Reborn knew that Fujimaru Taiga wasn't your normal case.

Even if Shirou was 'untouchable' that wasn't the same as 'unbeatable'.

"...Do you know the story of David and Goliath?" Shirou answered.

A smile curled Reborn's lips. "I might." He said with a chuckle. "Alright, Natsumi can leave it to you this time, but tell me, are you sure you can win?"

"No. That's the entire point. I want to find out."

"Wha!? You don't know if you can win!?" Natsumi shouted in surprise. "Is Fuji-nee really that strong?"

"She isn't as strong or skilled as Tsuyoshi was, but she has another factor on her side that will make this a very interesting match." Reborn said before turning and walking away. "I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

"So, it's going to be me and you, huh?" Taiga said, too giddy with excitement to stick to the formalities required for the tournament. She was practically jumping from one foot to another, a big grin on her face. "Maybe now I will be able to see what you can really do."

"I'll see if I can't entertain you." Shirou replied with a bit of a cocky smile.

"Are both participants ready?" Reborn asked, having dressed up as a referee in order to judge the match, and have the best seat.

"No, not yet." Shirou said as his eyes went to Taiga's very normal sword. "Where is Tora-Shinai?"

"Huh? How do you know about Tora-Shinai?" Taiga said, blinking in surprise.

"I have my methods. So why aren't you using it?" Shirou asked.

"The judges told me that I couldn't." Taiga mumbled.

Shirou glanced over at Reborn. "Ref, may I be allowed to request that she be allowed to use it?"

"You do realize what you are asking for, right?" Reborn said with a raised eyebrow, seeing Shirou nod his head, the baby hitman grinned. "Sure. I'll allow it."

After receiving permission, Taiga went and exchanged her shinais, returning with one sporting a tiger striped pattern and a tiny cartoon tiger head tassel hanging from its guard.

Shirou was slightly surprised when he saw it, as it didn't give off the same thirst for blood as the version he was more familiar with. It was still as it was from before Raiga had decided to seal it away.

However, that didn't mean it was ordinary.

"Are you sure you want this? I'm a lot stronger when I have this sword, you know?" Taiga said as she took a practice swing.

"Yes. I know." Shirou replied. He could sense the way her flames interacted with the tiger striped weapon, drinking them in as if it was part of their natural vessel. Almost unnoticeable blue flames dancing along the stripes edges, all of it without the fight even starting.

"Any other requests?" Reborn asked.

"None." Shirou said shortly as he got into position.

"Then, begin!" Reborn shouted, giving the signal to start.

* * *

The moment she had met them, Taiga had known that they were different from the others. Natsumi and Illya in particular had given her the feeling that there was greatness hidden just beneath the surface, Ryohei had openly shown his unusual talents, even if he was just a hyperactive idiot with no grace at all, ...the silver haired brat and the guy with the regent hairstyle were admittedly pretty forgettable, but even a blind man could tell that Reborn had been different.

Yet the one they all seemed to hold respect for was Shirou.

Taiga could see why after watching just a few matches. He was heads and shoulders above the others when it came to skill and insight. The way he could accurately predict the outcomes of almost every match before they happened had made her feel giddy with excitement. She wanted to see how she would perform against his 'victory from a hundred miles' sort of style. So she had been overjoyed to find that he was to be her opponent.

It was to be the first match in forever where she might actually have a challenge.

It had been so long since she had a good challenge. None of her classmates could put up a fight, even when she handcapped herself by only using one arm. Even the experts her grandpa occasionally had over couldn't beat her the way they used to. She continued her daily practices, but it was all started to feel like an empty exercise, as she no longer saw anything to work towards. But now...

Taiga didn't hold back, using all her skill and speed to try to push through Shirou's defenses. He was weaker and slower than she expected, but even so, he put up a fight.

Taiga couldn't say when it happened, but her offensive pressure suddenly vanished and she found herself on the defensive side of the combat for the first time since the tournament began. She tried to find openings, but her attempts to regain control only cost her more and more ground. He had her. Using only half her strength, he had her in a retreat she couldn't escape from.

In a desperate attempt to regain control, she tried a strong parry, only to find the attack she had tried to parry was a faint. Her momentum was carrying her weapon to the side, she was open…

*Crash!*

Shirou rolled to the side just as something came falling down from above, smashing into the ground where Shirou had been standing just moments before.

"Competitor Emiya's hand touched the ground. One penalty point will be awarded to competitor Fujimura!" The oddly familiar looking ref declared.

"Huh?" Taiga said, her confusion echoed by everyone else.

"That's bullshit! Get your eyes checked ref, a fucking light fixture just fell down in the middle of the stage!" Gokudera shouted.

"Doesn't matter. Rules are rules." The ref replied with a shrug.

"Wha!? You've got to be kidding…!"

"No, he's right." Shirou said as he returned to his feet. "A warrior does not complain about the fortunes of war, as luck is merely another aspect of battle. It's my own fault for not having prepared myself."

"Why would you have prepared yourself for that?" Taiga asked, her mind still boggling over it all, but Shirou's serious face was the only response she got.

"Are both participants ready to resume?" The ref asked.

"I'm ready." Shirou said, returning to the starting position.

"...Sure." Taiga said, confused, but ready.

The fighting continued, this time with Taiga a bit more prepared. She managed to maintain her offensive for a while longer this time, but after several parries and retreats, Shirou managed to get her off balance once again…

*Crack!*

Shirou's attempt to move in for the kill was stopped when a floorboard snapped under his foot, forcing him to correct his balance as he tried his best not to fall to a knee and received another penalty.

"Um… ref?" Taiga said awkwardly.

"The match is still live." The ref replied as he popped grapes into his mouth… where did the grapes come from?

Shirou managed to dislodge his leg and returned to the fight as if nothing had happened, and Taiga was put on the defensive yet again. Only, as they fought, a large lump started to crawl its way up the inside of Shirou's pant legs, ignoring the boy's attempts to shake it off mid fight.

The lump worked its way up all the way to his helmet and then Taiga gave a squeal as she saw what it was. "Is that a rat!?"

While his leg had been underneath the floorboard, a large grey rat had managed to climb up into Shirou's clothing and worked its way up to the boy's helmet, and was scratching at his face as he struggled to stay in the fight.

"The match is still live." The ref chuckled. Shirou seemed equally unwilling to pause the match for such a small thing, doing his best to ignore the rat that was trying to claw his eyes out.

...That was when three dozen stray cats came charging out from underneath the stands, screaming and hissing as they fell upon the boy to get at the rat.

* * *

Reborn felt a tear coming on.

Sometimes, nature was just so beautiful. But he had to remember his job.

"Competitor Emiya's protective gear has been removed. One penalty point will be awarded to competitor Fujimura! The score is now 1 to 0 in Fujimura's favor." Reborn declared after the small army of cats managed to wrestle away Shirou's helmet, despite the boy's valiant efforts to ward them off.

His face was covered in scratches and bite marks, proving that he was serious about not using any magic at all.

Shirou grunted his acceptance and he went to try to retrieve his helmet from the strays.

While this was happening, Natsumi approached Reborn. "Reborn, what in the world is going on?" Natsumi asked, her face full of panic.

"It's a Kendo match. Can't you tell?" Reborn said, tilting his head and maintaining his perfect poker face.

"How in the world is this a Kendo match?" Natsumi cried.

"It is just as competitor Emiya said. Luck is merely another aspect of battle." Reborn said with a shrug.

"What, was the Tomato hit with a gypsy curse or something?" Gukodera said in dumbfounded shock as one of the nearby stray cats hissed at him.

"Maybe this will help you all understand." Reborn said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a few sheets of paper, handing them over to Natsumi.

"Those are...!?" Taiga gasped in horror as she recognized the papers.

"They're… Fuji-nee's English exams…" Natsumi said, twitching a little as she looked down at the pages covered in red ink, a large '10/100' circled at the top of the page.

"No! Anything but that!" Taiga cried, slumping down to her knees. "How did you even get those!?"

"I have my methods." Reborn responded cheekily.

"Alright, so she sucks at English, what does that have to do with what's going on here?" Gokudera asked as he glanced over the paper.

"Well, that is a free response test. Now, look at her multiple choice test for the same subject." Reborn said, showing them a second paper.

"On...one hundred percent!?" Natsumi cried in surprise.

"I'm… I'm not bad at English. I just don't do well with free response." Taiga stuttered, looking away from the group.

"It says you were given 10 points for putting your name on the paper." Gokudera deadpanned, causing the girl's bottom lip to start trembling.

"Competitor Fujimura doesn't know a single word of English, and yet she was able to get a 100 on a 50 question multiple choice test with 5 possible answers per question." Reborn said. "The odds of that happening is less likely than getting the jackpot in the lottery, four time in a row. And when using her personal good luck charm, the Tora-Shinai, her luck goes from merely ludicrous to what you are seeing before you today."

"No way." Natsumi said as her eyes bulged, unable to comprehend the level of unlikeliness.

To be fair, even Reborn was having a hard time believing the level of chaos brought about by Taiga's luck as it tried to change reality in order to assure her victory against the improbably skilled Shirou. Perhaps it wasn't just her luck. Perhaps Emiya's own luck was absolutely terrible and the two forces were working in a form of chaotic harmony.

...It was so beautiful.

"But nothing like this has ever happened before." Taiga objected.

"Since competitor Fujimura is such an especial swordsman herself, very little, if any, luck is needed to overcome a normal opponent. But in order to overcome overwhelming odds, an overwhelming amount of luck is needed." Reborn replied. "In the story of David and Goliath, depending on the telling, Goliath was either a giant, the son of a fallen angel and a witch, or a fallen angel himself. Regardless, he was a monstrous individual, whose size, strength, skill, intelligence and mystical power all dwarfed everyone around him. And yet, that monster was knocked unconscious by a normal shepherd using nothing more than a sling and a rock. Something that probably wouldn't even knock out your average man in a single blow. That is the kind of absurd luck needed to defeat a monstrously superior opponent."

"But that's…" Taiga said, unsure of what to do.

"Don't back down." Shirou said, surprising her as he returned with his helmet. "This is exactly what I wanted."

"Shirou?" Taiga said.

"Fate has decided that I am to lose this match. I want to see if it is possible for someone like me to overcome that fate. So please, don't quit, and don't hold back." Shirou asked her, his eyes still as serious as they were from the start.

"If both participants are ready, we can resume." Reborn said, they both returned to the starting positions and Reborn gave the signal. "Begin!"

They restarted, only it was clear from what Reborn could see that Taiga's heart wasn't as in it. A second spot light fell with Shirou dancing out of its way and around the broken shards on the ground, without much of a care, even as Taiga winced and pulled back.

"Don't hesitate!" Shirou shouted, before getting around Taiga's guard once again, his sword finally connecting.

*Crack!*

After the blow was dealt, Shirou's weapon broke in two.

"As competitor Emiya has been disarmed, the landed blow will be disregarded. Once again, one penalty point will be awarded to..." Reborn started but Taiga cut him off.

"Hold on a second! That isn't right!" She shouted. "He landed his hit before his weapon broke! Shirou should have already scored three hits on me by now! He should have already won!"

"That may be in a real fight, but this is a competition, and rules are rules. Since the penalty occurred before the point was called, it can be disregarded." Reborn said with a shack of his head.

"It can be, but isn't it my choice whether or not to challenge the point?" Taiga countered.

"...Technically, yes. Are you not going to challenge it?" Reborn asked, his mouth curling into a smile.

"No! The point stands!"

"Very well, the current score is 1 to 1, with competitor Fujimura having an extra half point penalty." Reborn said with a chuckle. "We will resume once competitor Emiya replaces his weapon."

"You didn't need to do that." Shirou said as Taiga got back from talking with Reborn.

"Yes I did." Taiga said hottily. "I don't want to win like this. I don't want to win without ever even landing a single stupid point on you, Shirou." Her hands trembled as her frustration.

Shirou saw this and sighed before giving the girl a smile. "You need to stop taking this so seriously." Shirou said, surprising Taiga. "The Flames of Rain grow when you enjoy what you are doing and will dwindle when you stress out about it. You don't need to dwell on all this complicated stuff, it will only slow you down. If you want to fight me at your fullest, then stop thinking about it and just do it."

"...Just do it, huh?" Taiga replied, thinking about what he had just said.

He was right, her flames had been weakening the more she tried to think about Shirou's serious attitude towards it all. She had been hesitating and been distracted. Shirou was the most skilled opponent she had ever faced. She wanted to enjoy this.

As she took a deep breath and let out a sigh, the flow of energy started to return to her as a smile returned to her face. "Alright. Go and get a weapon so that I can score a real point on you this time." Taiga said with a grin, blue flames starting to coil around her weapon again.

"I said enjoy yourself, not get cocky." Shirou replied as he walked back to his teammates, surprising everyone as he took both Ryohei and Kusakabe's weapons. "I'm going to have to borrow these."

He took a few experimental swings as he returned to the stage.

"A two sword style? Is that even legal?" Kusakabe asked.

"Yes, though no one ever does it." Reborn replied. "I thought you said you wouldn't be going all out."

"I said I wouldn't use any magecraft." Shirou stood in front of Taiga, body open and swords held out at his sides. "I'm ready whenever."

"Begin!"

Taiga pushed forward, giving it everything she had. She was fast, stronger and more focused than before as the thrill of combat took over for her, not that it made a single difference.

Shirou's two sword style could best be described as relentless. Every defence flowed flawlessly into an attack and each missed swing was a distraction for the follow up. Chaos surrounded them, floor boards breaking, bits and pieces of the roof falling down, and even an entire section of an air vent, but Shirou kept his footing light and just danced around it all as if none of it existed as he continued his assault.

There was absolutely nothing Taiga could do but give ground, but even so, a smile spread across her face.

This was it. The thing she had been missing over the last year of her life. Someone who could show her an entire other world of swordsmanship, who could show her that she had still a long way to go to reach the peak. Merely the struggle to hold on against him was exhilarating.

But she didn't want to merely hold on. She wanted to land that point. To get it far and square, and so, when her eyes found the opening, she struck. His positioning was too far off to allow him to properly parry her horizontal slash, and she had been sure she had him, only for his entire body to twist as the last second, causing her slash to miss his helmet by a hair's width.

His first sword came in, locking with her Tora-Shinai, while the other pushed forward in a strike to her exposed side.

There was no way to guard, and she couldn't properly retreat, so Taiga did the only thing she could do to avoid. She fell.

Even as she toppled backwards, landing on her back, she was trying to prepare herself for the follow up attack that she knew was coming.

So long as she could stop Shirou from scoring a point before the penalty is called, she would only receive a penalty for the fall and would still have one last chance. Only, before Shirou struck out at her, the entire ceiling above them gave one final groan, before everything above the two of them simply gave in.

Taiga was on her back, staring upwards as steel support beams came falling down towards her, and she was in no position to get out of the way.

"Trace On."

Before the falling ceiling could reach them, Shirou dashed forward, grabbing onto Taiga and rushing the both of them out of the way of the falling metal, which crashed to the ground, smashing through the wooden floor and completely destroying the stage, sending up a cloud of dust as it did so.

"Are you alright?" Shirou asked her as the dust started to settle.

"Y...yeah. I'm okay." Taiga said, still a bit shell shocked. Looking at the distance they had managed to cover, Taiga suddenly realized just how much Shirou had been holding back during their fight.

"Sorry Shirou-kun, but rules are rules." Reborn said as he stood next to them.

"Huh?" Taiga said, not understanding what he meant for a moment.

"Because competitor Emiya tackled you out of the way, that is another penalty. The final score is 2 to 1. You win, competitor Fujimura." Reborn reported.

"But that's…!" Taiga started but stopped.

Rules were rules.

"I'm sorry Shirou. Because you had to save me, you ended up losing the match." Taiga said, a little guilty. Though her melancholy stopped as Shirou snorted.

"You're joking, right?" Shirou said, giving Taiga a funny look. "Your life is worth more than some silly competition."

"Huh? But what about all that stuff about overcoming fate?"

"It doesn't really matter." Shirou said with a shrug. "Besides, even if this match really had been something to decide my fate. I'd much rather face whatever damnation that awaits me for losing than let something happen to the people I care about."

Shirou then gave her a reassuring smile, and Taiga felt her cheeks starting to heat up. It suddenly occurred to her that he was still holding her pretty close.

"Are you guys alright!?" Natsumi shouted as she started to run over to check on them, prompting Taiga to struggle out of Shirou's grip.

"Yeah, we're fine." Taiga said, as she tried to control her blush.

She looked over at Shirou again, at the one who had reminded her that she had a long way to go when it came to swordsmanship. The one who had given her her new goal.

That day, things had been crazy, but Taiga still couldn't be happier.

* * *

**According to the wiki, Taiga has EX-rank luck.**

**If B-rank Luck is basically a minor divine protection and can bend the fabric of space and time in order to change the outcome of a battle, what exactly would EX-rank do?**

**Here is my imagining of what a fight between E-rank and EX-rank luck would look like.**

**It seems like a very Fate kind of outcome. Shirou is someone who can't be hit by a normal fighter, but she is someone who can't lose. So Shirou never got touched, but Taiga still won.**


	20. Chapter 20

"Zzzz… Extreme… Zzzz… Extreme… Zzz… Guh…"

*Giggle* *Giggle* *Giggle*

Ryohei started to wake up on that extreme saturday morning to the sound of giggling. He shifted a bit before performing his usual extreme morning stretch, to help get the blood flowing… or at least he tried too.

"Wha!? Why!? Huh!?" Ryohei shouted in his confusion, suddenly wide awake as he found his blanket wrapped tightly around him, with several of his father's old belts being used to hold it closed.

Kyoko and Hana all burst into laughter while Natsumi continued to try to stifle her giggles as Ryohei's struggles for freedom resulted in him rolling off his bed and falling to the floor.

"Kyoko!? What's going on!? Why am I all tied up!?" Ryohei asked, his voice as loud as usual.

"Sorry Onii-chan, but this is an intervention." Kyoko said with her disarming smile. "You've been pushing yourself too hard recently, so we are giving you a mandatory day off."

At first, Ryohei just seemed confused, but then he started to give a worried chuckle. "Ve...very funny Kyoko. Now let me go. I need to do my morning run."

"Nope." Kyoko said, popping the 'p'. "Today you are going to rest. No exercising."

"But… but my morning run!?" Ryohei cried, his face starting to pale as he realized his little sister was serious.

"I know that exercising is important to you, but after what happened to Yamamoto-san… Please Onii-chan. Please just rest for today. I don't want you to be hurt too." Kyoko said, giving her brother the puppy dog eyes.

Ryohei was gapping like a fish, searching for some way to react, but in the end, he was no better with Kyoko than Shirou was with Illya. "...Alright. I promise that I will take an extreme break." Ryohei said, his entire body wilting within its bindings. "Now, will you untie me already?"

"Not a chance." Hana said with a rather evil smile. "We know you better than to think that you can help yourself. You are going to sleep in till noon today, like a normal body, and if you are good, we will consider untying you after that."

"You've got to be kidding me!?" Ryohei cried out in despair.

"Come on Kyoko, let's go make some breakfast." Hana said, pushing the girl towards the door.

"Right. Stay tight, Onii-chan. I'll spoon feed you some of it later." Kyoko said, waving goodbye as the three girls left the room.

"Wait, Kyoko! Don't leave me like this! Hana-chan, have mercy! Natsumi-chan!" Ryohei cried. Natsumi gave Ryohei an apologetic smile as she carefully closed the door behind her.

* * *

Natsumi felt a sort of guilty happiness she had never felt before as she worked with Kyoko and Hana to prepare breakfast.

She had never been a part of a prank before, and as pure as Kyoko's intentions were, that was without a doubt a prank.

"Well, hopefully this will teach him a valuable lesson about the importance of R&R." Hana declared, not showing any sign of guilt at all.

"Thank you for coming over to help us, Natsumi-chan. I'm not sure if Hana and I would have been able to move him on our own." Kyoko chuckled.

"I'm glad to be invited to join in." Natsumi said, her cheeks flushing a bit at being thanked by Kyoko.

"I just feel bad about calling you here so early when you were with the Kendo Club too." Kyoko said. "My Onii-chan may sleep like a rock, but he is always back awake the moment the sun starts to rise. So we had to do it really early."

"How are you holding up? You seemed to have been having a chaotic week. Are you doing alright?" Hana asked before giving another one of her evil smiles. "We don't have to tie you up too, do we?"

"No, I'm good." Natsumi said with a little bit of a worried smile. "It's been chaotic, but last week went really well for me."

"Onii-chan wouldn't stop talking last night about how well you did in the competition. It's a shame the final round got canceled when it was just starting." Kyoko said.

"I wasn't all that great. It was Onii-san and Shirou-senpai who carried the team." Natsumi insisted.

"According to Ryohei-san, you managed to go eight in ten. For someone with only a week's worth of training under their belt, that is insane." Hana said, giving Natsumi a look, as if to say humbleness had no place here. "Though I suppose not as insane as the final round getting canceled because the roof collapsed on people's heads. I'm glad no one got hurt."

"Yeah, me too." Natsumi said, thinking back to the final round between Shirou and Taiga, with the roof collapsing on them. It left uncomfortable questions.

Did the ceiling collapse because whatever cosmic hands that were causing all that chaos knew that Shirou would throw the match to save Taiga, or was it because if she died she couldn't lose the match.

Everything about it was uncomfortable.

"Still, tying for first place is pretty good. We should throw a small party to celebrate!" Kyoko said with a big grin.

"Another good excuse on your part to eat cake." Hana deadpanned. "Though… It isn't a bad idea, having a victory party. What do you think, Natsumi-chan? If you feel up to it, we can go and buy the supplies right after breakfast."

"Well… I don't know who all would come. Shirou-senpai had promised to take his little sister to the zoo today, I don't know Kusakabe's phone number, and as for Gokudera… ah... " Natsumi didn't really know what to say about the mafia boy, as his behavior seemed to have a server disconnect with reality, though she honestly didn't want to spend her weekend with him.

"It doesn't need to be a party for the whole team. Just a small token to show we are sorry for not being there to show you our support." Kyoko said.

"Thank you." Natsumi said, once again blushing uncontrollably.

"Well, it sounds like a plan. Now, let's get breakfast out of the way so that we can start preparing." Hana said as she got the eggs she had been cooking out of the skilt. "Parties don't throw themselves, after all."

* * *

"You know, it would probably be easier for us to just buy a cake rather than baking one ourselves. They aren't that expensive." Hana said with a raised eyebrow as Kyoko went over the ingredients for baking a cake as they moved about the local grocery store, grabbing what they needed for the party.

"But if we did that, it wouldn't feel as special." Kyoko said, pouting a little before looking to Natsumi for support. "You think so too right?"

"Well… It would be fun to make our own." Natsumi agreed, looking away from the pout before it was too late.

"I guess, but if we are going to be spending time making the cake ourselves, maybe we should just take it easy on the main course and just buy some freezer foods and snacks." Hana suggested.

"Sounds good." Natsumi agreed, and they all started to shift towards the freezer section to pick out what they would want for the party. That was where she spotted someone she hadn't been expecting to see again. Or at the very least, not so soon. "Fuji-nee?"

The Yakuza Princess looked up in surprise before giving her usual heartfelt grin. "Good morning, Natsumi. I wasn't expecting to see you so soon, not that I'm complaining."

"It's nice to see you too." Natsumi replied.

"I didn't know that Natsumi-chan had an older sister." Kyoko said, looking between the two girls.

"Ah, Fuji-nee isn't my older sister." Natsumi said, realizing that the form of address might be confusing for people. "This is Fujimura Taiga, a friend that I made at the Kendo Competition yesterday. She was from the other school who made it to the final round."

"You only met her yesterday and you are already addressing her as '-nee'?" Hana said, raising an eyebrow.

Kyoko didn't seem to mind as she smiled and introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you, Fujimura-san. I'm Sasagawa Kyoko, one of Natsumi-chan's friends from school."

"It's nice to meet you, Kyoko-chan. Though please, just call me Taiga. Either that, or you could use Fuji-nee too if you like." Taiga said with a grin.

"Alright, Fuji-nee." Kyoko said with her bright smile.

"She sure works fast." Hana said, not sure if she should be impressed or not.

"But Fuji-nee, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back in Fuyuki right now?" Natsumi asked.

"Well, I did promise that if I lost the match that I would join your school's Kendo Club, right? And regardless of what Shirou and that weird ref say, I know he beat me good. So, my grandpa got me a condo nearby." Taiga explained.

Wasn't it supposed to be the Boxing Club? Well, she supposed that Ryohei had tried to claim that the Kendo Club was part of the Boxing Club.

"But that all just happened yesterday afternoon. How do you already have a condo set up?" Natsumi asked.

"You've seen what my grandpa is like. His people work fast." Taiga chuckled weakly. "I'm just glad it is only a normal condo. I had to talk him down from buying a mansion for me to stay in."

"A mansion!?" Natsumi shouted, Hana and Kyoko also looked shocked.

"Yeah, I know." Taiga said with her own exasperated look. "Grandpa has a really weird perception of money."

"...Yeah, I guess Reborn does too." Natsumi said with her own sigh. The not-a-baby hitman often talked about a hundred million yen as if it was no big deal. Something that could be lost on a hand of poker without feeling too bad about it. Compared to some of the things Reborn said, buying a mansion to send your granddaughter to the school she wanted wasn't that unusual.

"So, what brings you girls here this early?" Taiga asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"We were planning on having a small party to celebrate after the Kendo Tournament and were buying a few supplies." Natsumi explained.

"A party huh? That sounds nice." Taiga said with a nod of her head.

"Would Fuji-nee like to join us?" Kyoko offered.

"Can I?"

"Of course! Right now it was only going to be the three of us and my Onii-chan, so one more person couldn't hurt."

"Onii-chan? Was your brother part of the Kendo Team too?" Taiga asked.

"Ryohei is Kyoko's Onii-chan." Natsumi explained.

"Huh!? You mean you're that loud mouthed boxer's sister!?" Taiga said, looking at Kyoko with wide eyes before realizing she was being rude. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, it's just…"

"It's fine. I get that a lot." Kyoko said with a giggle.

"Besides, if there are three words that sum up Ryohei-san, it would be 'loud mouthed boxer'." Hana said with a knowing smile.

"Well, I'd be glad to be a part of your party. In fact, how about we have it at my condo? You can help me break the place in." Taiga offered.

"Are you sure? I'd hate to make a mess of your new place." Kyoko replied.

"Don't worry about it. I'm probably going to make plenty of a mess of it myself soon anyways." Taiga said with a laugh.

"Well then, it sounds like a plan to me. Let's hurry up and finish shopping so that we can start." Hana said, all the girls nodded in agreement before getting back to work. They had a lot to do if they wanted to have a proper party.

* * *

It was a beautiful early summer's day and Illya felt like queen of the world as her Onii-chan led her around the zoo on their very first date.

...Alright, so maybe it wasn't a real date, but a girl could dream, couldn't she? Perhaps someday, after Illya grew into a beautiful woman like her mama and managed to charm her Onii-chan, they would look back on that day as the first.

At the moment, they were going through Illya's favorite exhibit, the bird house. "They're so pretty." Illya said as the multicolor birds flew around them, one of the smaller ones landing on her outstretched arm and working its way down to her hand to get at the birdfeed she was holding for it. She couldn't help but giggle as it tickled her hand.

Illya had always loved birds and the freedom of flight. There was just something inspiring about it.

It made her wonder if she was going to be able to learn how to fly. Was it possible? She was a Magical Girl after all. While most of the time they just jumped really high, but they sometimes flew.

As the bird finished off the seed and once again took flight, the sun caught its wings and produced a beautiful rainbow of colors.

"Onii-chan, do magical birds exist?" Illya asked as she watched it go.

"Hm… I'm not actually sure." Shirou said, following Illya's gaze. "I was told that there exists another world beside ours called the 'Reverse Side of the World' and that after the Age of the Gods ended, almost all of the magical creatures and divine spirits that could no longer survive with our world's dwindling mana supply all fled into that Reverse World. But after seeing Reborn and his pet lizard, I'm not so sure if that is the case."

"The Reverse World?" Illya said, imagining a wide and beautiful expanse filled with magical creatures and unicorns. "Onii-chan, is it possible to go there?"

"...I don't know. Though if it is, I would very much like to go there myself. Perhaps see the Kingdom of Avalon for myself." Shirou said.

Illya looked up at her brother, confused at the amount of regret and shame she heard in his voice. "Onii-chan, what's Avalon?"

"Avalon was the name of a magical island in the legends of King Arthur, and said to be the home of the Faeries. From what I know, the island may still exist within the Reverse Side of the World." Shirou said.

"If it's the kingdom of the Fairies, then maybe Reborn-san knows how to get there!" Illya said, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Maybe he does." Shirou said with a small smile. "But I think we should hold off on asking him until you get a little older. Fairies are notoriously tricky individuals. I'm sure if we take our eyes off of Reborn for a second, he'll show his true colors by stealing all the launder socks and rearranging the silverware drawer." Illya couldn't help but to laugh, picturing Reborn cackling to himself as he plucked socks from the clothes line. "You seem to be out of bird seed. You want to go get more?"

"No, I'm good. Let's go see the otters next." Illya replied with a smile.

* * *

"Alright, let's hurry and get your brother so we can start the party." Hana said as she and Kyoko returned to Kyoko's house to retrieve Ryohei after helping to prepare for the party.

It was a little bit past noon, since preparations had taken a bit longer than expected, as Taiga and Natsumi kept making small mistakes that would cause setbacks. After a while, Hana had had enough and simply booted the two of them out of the kitchen and told them to set up the dining room.

It was so funny, seeing the two's almost identical embarrassed looks as they were scolded. It was hard to believe that the two of them weren't related.

As it turned out, Taiga's condo was huge, big enough for a family of five to live comfortably, though the girl said she was going to be living there herself.

From what Kyoko understood, both her parents were in good health, but they tended to be very busy, so she had spent most of her time with her grandfather.

Kyoko could relate, since her parents were usually too busy to even spend holidays with her and her brother. They occasionally were around for breakfast, and they always at the very least talked on the phone every night to stay in touch, but sometimes it felt like they could be in another country and it wouldn't make a difference. It was always just her and her Onii-chan.

"I'm half expecting us to get there and find that he managed to break out." Hana joked. "Well, if he did, we will just have to punish him for not taking relaxing seriously."

"Don't be too hard on him." Kyoko giggled as they reached Ryohei's room. "I just hope he isn't too mad at us for..."

Kyoko stopped mid sentence as she opened Ryohei's bedroom door and saw her brother, still lying on his bed and still bound in his blankets, but with an horrible, pained expression on his face. His breaths were shaky and he looked paler than normal.

"Onii-chan!?" Kyoko shouted in panic before rushing to his side, quickly working at the straps that held the blankets around him.

"K...Kyoko? You're back already?" Ryohei said, forcing a big smile, his eyes not really focusing on her.

"Onii-chan, are you alright?" Kyoko asked, reach out and touching Ryohei's face to find that he was burning up.

"I'm alright. Don't you worry, Kyoko. You worry too… too..." Ryohei didn't finish his sentence as his eyes simply started to roll back in his head and his head fell back.

"Onii-chan!? Onii-chan!?" Kyoko screamed, shaking him, trying to get him to respond as Hana rushed to the house phone to call for help. Kyoko started to shake herself as tears came to her eyes. "I'm sorry, Onii-chan! I'm sorry I tied you up! Just please be okay! Please! Onii-chan!"

* * *

"Don't worry, Kyoko-chan. I'm sure Onii-san will be alright." Natsumi tried to reassure Kyoko as they sat in the waiting room of the hospital, hoping for good news.

The party had been completely forgotten after Hana had told them of the condition that they had discovered Ryohei in.

None of it made sense to Natsumi. Reborn had said that Sun Flames like Ryohei could heal and recover from almost any sort of injury, so how was it that he ended up in this kind of terrible shape? He had been fine earlier that morning. Now he was starting to fall into a coma.

With the doctors as flummoxed as Natsumi was, and Shirou not having a cell phone, she did the only thing she could think of. She called Reborn.

Reborn told her to sit tight and said he would be right over with a mafia doctor to help. Apparently the mafia doctor that Reborn had requested to come to give Natsumi herself a check up had arrived that day.

Natsumi had been nervous about having a 'freelance hitman' as a doctor, but at the moment, she would be willing to take anything that could help. So she will admit she was relieved when she heard his familiar little voice. "Ciaossu."

"Reborn?" Natsumi said, looking up with hopeful eyes to see Reborn stand alongside a man she had never seen before. The man's body language was a little too casual, which wasn't very comforting in this high stress situation, and with his messy brown hair in the same 'bad boy' haircut as Gokudera, unshaven stubble on his chin and a sort of white suit that looked like it was out of a film about the 80's, he didn't LOOK like a doctor.

However, Reborn introduced him as such.

"Allow me to introduce the best doctor in the Mafia World, Doctor Shamal." Reborn said, gesturing towards the man.

"Good afternoon, Ojou-chans." The man said with the kind of smile that made Natsumi really wish she had that can of pepper spray that Illya had given her. "So tell me, which one of you lovelies is my patient?"

Natsumi pressed down on her revolution and pushed forward. "It isn't us! Kyoko, her brother is in really bad shape!"

"Oh… a brother." Shamal's face fell. "Sorry, but I don't treat boys."

"What!? What the hell kind of doctor refuses to treat someone who's sick!?" Taiga shouted, saying what they were all thinking.

"All kinds of doctors. Usually it is about the money though." Shamal said with a huff. "Sorry, I only treat girls."

"Why you…!?" Taiga growled, clenting her fist, though Natsumi instead of getting angry did the only thing she could do, appeal to a higher power.

"Reborn!?"

"Don't worry. He'll help Ryohei." Reborn said with certainty.

"Reborn, you know my policies." Shamal said.

"I do. And I know you make exceptions. Or are you going to tell this sweet little girl that you are going to simply let her brother die?" Reborn said looking up at Shamal with his thousand yard stare.

"Please, sensei. Please help my brother." Kyoko begged, her eyes puffy and red from crying.

Shamal looked back at her before sighing. "I'm not touching the boy, but I suppose I could take a look at him." The man said with a sigh. "So, where is he?"

"Emergency room 3, in the back of the first floor." Reborn replied, somehow already knowing.

"A civilian emergency room? Great, as if this wasn't already troublesome enough." The man grumbled. "Alright, follow me."

He then just started walking towards the double doors that separated the waiting room from the main branch of the hospital. The girls blinked in surprise, but then went chasing after the man.

When they had tried to enter there before, they had been scolded by a nurse and turned back, but for some reason, no one even noticed them as the group walked through the halls. It was almost as if they couldn't see them.

It became even more suspicious when Shamal cropped a feel of one of the nurses as he passed them, causing them to give a yelp of surprise and look around, but not seeming to see the group. "The nurses here aren't bad. Maybe I could work here for a little will." Shamal mused as he simply continued walking, as if nothing had happened.

"What the hell?" Hana said in disbelief as they followed behind.

Something was up, different from Reborn's passive enchantments that simply stopped people from noticing that something was wrong. Natsumi could see a sort of dark blue mist emanating from the man, thinner and weaker than most of the flames she had seen before.

"They are Mist Flames." Reborn told her, sensing the fact that she had noticed them. "They are a type of Dying Will Flame that specializes in creating illusions and controlling the perspectives of the people around them. A very scary kind of thing to fight against."

Natsumi swallowed a little, imagining what it would be like to be on the receiving end of someone who could control what you see, and hoping she would never have to find out what that was like.

In this manner the group walked to the end of the hall and to the emergency room, where Shamal casually pushed the door open.

"What? Who are you? You aren't supposed to be he…" One of four doctors who were working on Ryohei started as Shamal raised one of his hands. With Natsumi's flame enhanced eyesight, she could see the four tiny mosquitoes fly up out of the man's sleeve, and her intuition told her that they were not normal.

Reborn smiled at the girl as she tapped into her own flames, hardening her skin on instinct, sensing the danger that came from being bitten.

The moment the mosquitoes left Shamal's sleeve, they rushed for the doctors, biting each one of them exactly once. All four doctors fell to the ground unconscious.

"HIIEEE!?" Natsumi squealed.

"They aren't dead. I just knocked them out for a little." Shamal said as he walked forward to examine Ryohei.

Kyoko began to cry again, seeing her brother on a respirator, with all the wires connected to him. Meanwhile, the rest of them were all slack jawed, as they stared at Shamal, wondering what he did.

"It was Shamal's personal weapon and his means for his treatments, the Trident Mosquitoes." Reborn explained. "Shamal is an ESPer of sorts and can control the behavior or mosquitoes with his mind. Each of his mosquitoes contains a type of virus, which he uses both as his weapons for assassination and as his treatments for saving people."

"How can that be used as a treatment!?" Taiga asked in shock.

"All medicines are poisons that are supposed to change something about your body, counting the effects of whatever disease you have in order to return your body to a proper equilibrium. Shamal just does the same thing, only using disease to counter disease. If your existing condition causes dangerous high blood pressure, he injects you with an illness that lowers your blood pressure, balancing everything out." Reborn explained.

That sort of made sense, though it still sounded crazy.

"Ojou-chan, you say this is your brother right? Is he blood related?" Shamal asked.

"Yes." Kyoko replied.

"I see. White hair and darkened skin that aren't a part of his genetics. It's a sign of prana poisoning, and the boy is an active Sun Flame. How much sunlight does he usually get?" Shamal asked.

"He's almost always outside when he can be. He goes on two or three mile rounds every day." Kyoko replied.

"I see, and how much did he get today?" Shamal asked.

"What does that have to do with anything!? He isn't a plant!" Hana shouted at the man.

"We… we tied him up so that he would take the day off from exercising." Kyoko admitted weakly.

"I get it." Shamal said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out two pills, flicking them into the air. The pills broke and little mosquitoes came flying out before going to bite Ryohei. "Alright, know someone grab him. We need to talk him to the roof and let him absorb some sunlight."

"What?" Natsumi asked.

"Like all Sun Flame users, the boy naturally absorbs a large quantity of prana from the sun through his Manipura. But in the case of an inexperienced rookie like him, he doesn't know how to regulate his Yin and his Yang. Because his body has too much Yang, the prana he absorbed became poisonous to him. Usually, someone like him would die within a few days of being born, after they absorb too much sunlight. However, since he is alive, we can assume that his body has learned to expel prana at a high rate to prevent himself from dying to prana poisoning." Shamal said, rolling his shoulders.

"Prana? Are you some kind of witch doctor or something?" Hana said, though the man ignored her and just continued talking.

"However, since his body is always expelling prana, he needs to be constantly refilling his supply, or else his body will start to shut down from having too little prana. I injected him with two diseases, the first being the 'Angelic Disease', which will drastically increase his Yin and help balance him out, while the other is the 'Encasing Disease', which will decrease the rate in which he expels his prana. Now he just needs to recharge his supply and he'll be fine."

"How long will that take?" Kyoko asked.

"About twenty minutes in the sun will do the trick, though if you want faster results, you'd have to inject him with some Sky Flames."

"Sky Flames?" Natsumi said, surprised.

"That's right. While the body normally treats foriegn prana as a type of poison, Sky Flames can easily harmonize with anyone. So if you let him absorb some of your Sky Flames, he'll be back to normal in just a few seconds." Shamal said.

Sky Flames. All that Natsumi needed to do was let Ryohei absorb her Sky Flames.

"Natsumi, do you want to do it?" Reborn asked her.

"I… Yes." Natsumi said, confusing Hana and Kyoko as she walked forward and placed her hands on Ryohei before visualizing the spinning top.

Part of her was worried that she would get the same negative reaction that she got when she had tried to bring Yamamoto into her Sky, but that didn't happen this time. Her flames gladly blanketed over Ryohei, and within seconds the boy's labored breaths calmed down and all the monitoring equipment in the room started to show normal readings.

"Huh… Natsumi-chan? Where are we?" Ryohei asked as he started to walk up.

"Onii-chan!" Kyoko cried, jumping onto her brother and wrapping her arms around him.

"Huh, Kyoko! Hey, don't cry! Everything's alright!" Ryohei said, back to his old self and panicking as his little sister cried into his chest.

"Thank goodness." Natsumi said with a sigh.

"Natsumi, what did you do? What in the world is going on?" Hana asked.

"Ah… well… you see…" Natsumi started to panic, realizing how much of the mafia world she had just exposed her friends too. She tried to think of how to respond, but Reborn beat her to the punch.

"The answer is very simple, Kurokawa-san." Reborn said with his trademark smile. "Tell me, have you ever heard of 'Magical Girls'?"

Natsumi couldn't help but to deadpan as Reborn's words.

She was getting the impression that this 'Magical Girls' thing was becoming his favorite deceptions.

* * *

**For those of you wanting to debate if Taiga's luck is beyond A-rank or if EX means something else, I don't care. Shut up. I don't care about canon verse fanon, and I don't care about EX verse STAR(or whatever it is called).**

**But considering that she is supposed to have accidentally saved the world three times in one day during the Fourth War through dumb luck, I am going to say last chapter wasn't that much of a stretch. **

**You also have to understand that that kind of fight is consistent for the tone and lore of both KHR and the Nasuverse, and that it was literally the only way I could have a satisfying end to an arc that involved Emiya Fucking Shirou in a sword fight with a 15 year old girl (regardless of magically enhanced strength).**


	21. Chapter 21

"Natsumi has some signs of damage to her nervous system, and her muscle mass and body fat are still both on the low side. However, she shows signs of being able to make a full recovery. With her developing Flames of Restoration, I'd think she will be the picture of health in another week or two. After that, she'll just need normal levels of exercise." Shamal reported to Reborn as the two of them sat drinking sake. It had been a week since his arrival and he had seen Natsumi a few more times since in order to check on her health. "That's as much as I can tell you about her physical health, since I have no idea how you managed to remove the seal in the first place."

"I'd tell you if I could." Reborn replied. "You said about her 'physical health'. How about her mental and emotional health?"

"Her beta brain waves are a little on the high side, causing her to maintain a high level of stress even during daily life, not unlike mild PTSD symptoms. Pretty common among people who have met you." Shamal teased. "It's something a week or two of brain training could probably fix, if you want. Though it isn't anything urgent."

"We can arrange it." Reborn nodded his agreement. Where before, such a heightened anxiety would have been beneficial to her awakening her flames, it served little purpose now. "And her emotional health?"

"...Reborn, her situation could best be summarized as hopeless." Shamal said with a sigh. "She doesn't have the most dysfunctional family situation I have ever seen, Bianchi and Hayato's family still takes the cake on that one, but it is beyond fixing. Outside of Natsumi's problems with her father, her relationship with her mother is unhealthy as well."

"A heavy handed mothering is the cultural norm in Japan. It's not like I'm not projecting expectations onto the girl as well." Reborn replied. He knew about how hard and insensitive Nana acted towards Natsumi, but it was within the cultural norm, and wasn't anything a small talking to couldn't fix. A parent projects expectations on the child in order to motivate them, it was a sign of love.

"You know that there is more going on than that." Shamal said, giving Reborn a hard look. "Being a housewife is about more than just doing the chores. It is about providing emotional stability for the rest of the household. But instead of looking out for her daughter, Nana lives in her own little fantasy world, revolving around Iemitsu. Because Natsumi's condition and her ability to see through the enchantments were a contradiction to that fantasy, she rejects her. And since Iemitsu is effectively out of the picture and Nana's condition isn't going to get any better, and will only get worse if we don't reveal the truth to her, the situation isn't ever going to fix itself."

"...Natsumi isn't even thirteen yet, and despite everything that has happened, she still loves her mother."

"Grief over loss is temporary. But if the girl stays in that house, she will never fully recover."

"Can't we get Nana herself some therapy?" Reborn asked.

"Even if we did, the corpse of Iemitsu will always hang over the two of them. There isn't any way to effectively approach fixing this, and if we make a misstep, it could cause everything to get a hundred times worse." Shamal said with a shake of the head. "I know that as an orphan, you idealize having a family, but this family isn't healthy for her."

"So you want her to just run away from it? How well did that work out for Gokudera? You were the one who tricked him into thinking his father murdered his mother, didn't you?" Reborn snapped.

"He's alive, ain't he?" Shamal replied grimly, his eyes narrowing.

Shamal had been called in when Gokudera's father was looking for a 'miracle cure' for the boy's mother. The fact that Shamal managed to keep a woman with a stage 3 inoperable brain tumor alive for three years was a miracle, however, that didn't stop Shamal from feeling guilty for her death, or bound to watch after her son. Perhaps it wouldn't have been so hard on him if she hadn't been so beautiful.

The tension in the room dissolved as the both of them just slumped down into their drinks. The two of them had too much history together and knew too well the other's buttons, but in the end, they each knew that the other spoke the truth.

"...Her potential Rain Guardian is living alone in a large condo near the school. We could have Natsumi stay there off and on for a while as a sort of trial period and see how she does." Reborn said, still being noncommittal. As much as he wanted to deny it, part of him wanted to see Natsumi and her mother happy together.

Reborn and most of his students had been orphans. Kiritsugu and Irisviel were even orphaned by their own hands, and the less said about Bianchi's family situation, the better. It was unbelievable that the parents hadn't tried to kill each other more than they already had. He wanted to see things work out between Natsumi and Nana.

"I'd also suggest cutting Nana off from the funds she's been getting from Iemitsu, or at least slowing them down. Make her get a job so she can start to connect with the real world again. Always hanging out around that house isn't healthy for her either." Shamal suggested, getting a nod of agreement from Reborn.

"I'll look into it, after I talk to Raiga about beefing up security around his granddaughter's place. The Fujimura Group is alright when it comes to basic wards to keep out the unaware, but it can't hold a candle to what the Emiyas' got, both from the old Einzbern and Emiya roots and… other sources." Reborn said before returning to his drink.

Both the Einzbern and Emiyas had been famous names when it came to magic items before their untimely demise, and most of the Mafia World still remembered them and gazed upon the Emiya residence with greed in their hearts. If not for the contract Kiritsugu made with Vongola, settling down and letting their children have a normal life would have been impossible.

It had been Timoteo's desire to keep that lost knowledge lost and to make use of Kiritsugu's practical skills that had caused a deal to be made between them, as the loss of such knowledge meant that Vongola would remain stronger simply by comparison.

"Raiga, huh. I'm surprised he'd let his granddaughter near the Vongola heir. He hasn't been happy since Nono established the Independent Assassinations Unit, Varia." Shamal hummed. "If memory serves, he called Tyr a 'self-righteous murderer' and sent a fruit basket to Squalo's hospital bed after he killed the man. I still remember that stupid kid's confused face when he got it."

Reborn nodded a bit in confirmation.

There had been many who hadn't approved when Timoteo had decided to establish Varia, an assassination group not 'techniquely' under his orders. A loophole in order to get around old peace contracts and an open threat against anyone who went against the Vongola Famiglia, both inside and outside of the Alliance.

The claim had been that it was a peace keeping force that wouldn't be tied to the politics of the Alliance, but Raiga had been outraged about it. The fact that the leader of Varia decided to name himself 'Tyr', after the Norse God of righteous conquest, didn't help matters.

'A conqueror is always a lover of peace. They would prefer if no one ever fought back.'

If Japan hadn't been considered insignificant at the time, Raiga probably would have been punished for being so outspoken.

Tyr, the first Sword Emperor, had been the Ninth's enforcer, and his death had been a power play on the part of the faction seeking to make Xana the next head of the Famiglia, before the Cradle Affair.

Reborn sometimes wondered what happened to Xana, since Timoteo wouldn't tell him.

"Raiga had been one of Daniela's supporters. Maybe he hopes that Natsumi will be able to fix things." Reborn said.

"Are you talking about Raiga or yourself?" Shamal said, being a little too close to the truth for Reborn's comfort.

"I've been hired to be Natsumi's home tutor. It's only natural that I have high hopes for my students." Reborn said, trying to dismiss Shamal's claim.

"Sure, though since we are on the subject of your students, how's Bianchi been doing? When is she going to arrive?" Shamal asked casually. "She can't stay away from you for long, you know? It's bad for her health."

"I know, and soon. I just wanted to get things settled around here before her arrival." Reborn said with a nod. "She'll be arriving any day now."

He was not looking forward to explaining Bianchi to Natsumi and Shirou.

...Or maybe, Shirou could provide a new solution for her as well.

* * *

"It looks so pretty." Illya said as Natsumi held out the perfectly cut ruby on the end of a brass chain. It was simplistic in design and could have been mistaken for an ordinary piece of jewelry, if one didn't know any better.

Natsumi didn't want to think about how much it must have been worth.

"It is only the starting piece. I'm still working on the enchantments for the… transformation pendants, but once they are finished, I'll be mounting that ruby onto Natsumi's." Shirou explained.

"You're already working on our transformation pendants!?" Illya asked, full of excitement.

"Oh, does someone want to have an early peek at their birthday present?" Shirou teased.

"No… but… can I?" Illya asked, fidgeting nervously. Shirou chuckled as he reached back to his work bench, taking out a box that contained two necklaces. Illya gasped the moment she saw them. If the ruby necklace was pretty in its simplicity, then the ornaments on these were breathtaking in their complexity.

The first one that Shirou held up was a four pointed, ruby red star with six white-blue wings growing out from its, the middle two wings folding back inwards as if to cradle the star. The entire thing was made of crystal, but the wings were made with such detail that Illya wondered if they would feel like real feathers if she touched them.

The second was a six petaled summer lily, its petals being a beautiful shade of orange with small touches of darker color to make them look like authentic flowers. There was a small gap in the middle, where Natsumi's ruby was supposed to go. Though even before that, they knew that this one was supposed to be hers, since her name meant 'summer flower'.

"Wow!" Illya said as she looked at the winged star, the little light in the room causing it to sparkle. "Can I touch it?"

"Feel free." Shirou said, letting Illya hold it. Seeing how careful she was being, he chuckled. "It isn't fragile. You could run over it with a car and it isn't likely to break. Those stones were harder than diamonds even before being reinforced with magic."

"Really?" Illya asked, unable to believe it. It was small enough to easily fit into the palm of her hand, and felt so light and delicate.

"Do you want me to slam it against the wall to prove it?"

"NO!" Illya shouted, holding it close and causing a few snickers at her reaction.

What Shirou didn't tell them was that the two necklaces were already functional as flame rings, each one having over fifty times the power output of Shirou's old rings. And while small, each one was one of the was made up of two of those large fist sized crystals that Reborn had provided. The Rainbow Fragments had been compressed and shaped perfectly through magecraft, something owing to their own mystic nature.

Though Shirou wouldn't let the girls use them until they had limiters placed on them… and if he was burning off excess energy anyways, why not use it to fuel a few extra runic formulas, as well as store energy in a rainy day fund?

After letting the girls see the current designs, Shirou took them back and hid them away again. His own pendant was already done, since it would go without limiters. It was a red sword behind a yellow shield in the shape of a sun with ten petal-like edges.

The number of edges on each of the items actually held meaning, as in Hindu lore, each of the Chakra was represented by a different colored flower with a different number of petals. For the yellow it was ten, six for orange and four for red.

Shirou still wasn't sure what he would do for Taiga's pseudo ring, once he got around to making it. Perhaps he should ask if she had preferences.

"So… um…" Natsumi started, holding up the ruby she had already been given. "Is this really going to stop people from being able to find me magically?"

Shirou smiled and reached over to a side table, picking up a digital camera. Natsumi was surprised when the boy took a picture without saying anything before turning the camera around to show the digital screen on the back. Natsumi gasped as while she had definitely been standing where the picture was, she wasn't in it. Instead it just showed the back wall behind where she was standing.

"It doesn't matter if the means they use are magical or mundane, no one in the world will be able to capture your trail, be they man or god. That is the nature of the mystery." Shirou declared.

"D...don't you think that is overkill?" Natsumi asked.

"No. But since I don't know how to do a spell for active invisibility against your enemies, it will have to do." Shirou said, his words were joking, but his face didn't have the same humor. "Remember my match with Fuji-nee? Just because you can't be hit, does not mean you won't lose some other way, and when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force, no one knows what will happen. Even with that necklace, I would advise you to be careful."

"Okay." Natsumi said with a swallow.

Then Shirou laughed and patted the girl on the head. "As far as we are aware, no one is actively pursuing you right now, so you don't have to worry." He told her.

"I would worry a lot less if you and Reborn didn't keep flipping back and forth between serious and happy fun times with 'magical girls'." Natsumi said with a sigh.

"I think it's cool when Onii-chan acts all serious." Illya mumbled quietly.

A knock came at the door and Irisviel's voice came to them through the door. "Kids, I know you're having fun in there, but it is time for you to go to school." She said cheerfully.

"Ah yes… *yawn*... school." Shirou said with a long yawn, getting giggles out of the two girls.

* * *

"We're off!" Illya cheered as she left the house with Shirou and Natsumi.

"Good morning, Judaime!" "Hey you three, what's up?" "Extremely good morning!"

"Good morning." Natsumi replied, seeing Gokudera, Taiga and Ryohei at the end of the driveway, waiting for them. She wasn't really surprised to see any of them there, even if it was usually just Gokudera. Though she was a little more surprised when she saw someone on Ryohei's back. "Kyoko-chan!? Are you alright!?"

"Ah… Good morning, Natsumi-chan." Kyoko said weakly, as she forced herself to smile. The girl was completely covered in sweat.

"Kyoko-chan tried to follow her brother and me on a morning jog. I think it was a little too much for her." Taiga said sympathetically.

After what happened to Ryohei, Kyoko had been in a panic.

Even though she had only wanted to get her brother to sleep in till noon on a weekend for the sake of his health, having it backfire so spectacularly had left its mark on her. She blamed herself for what happened, even though she had good intentions and there had been no way she could have possibly known that Ryohei actually NEEDED sunlight in order to live. She barely let her brother out of her sights since it happened, and Taiga had been forced to volunteer to go on morning jogs with him in order to reassure the girl.

It seems that even with Taiga's promise to keep an eye on him, Kyoko followed along anyways.

Natsumi thought it was a little extreme, but Ryohei had confided in her about it, telling her about how when they were kids, Kyoko was used by high school thugs to lure Ryohei out and beat him up. He had been beaten so bad that he had been taken to the hospital and ended up with the scar on his head. Even though it was out of her power, she had always blamed herself for what happened.

Seeing him back in the hospital bed again had opened up old scars of her own.

"My legs feel like wet noodles." Kyoko half laughed. "I don't suppose you could use any healing magic to make it better."

"I can try." Natsumi said, reaching into her pocket and getting the 'Sun Ring' that Reborn requested that Shirou give to her.

After discovering that Natsumi apparently had a talent for something called the 'Flames of Restoration', a hybrid flame between Sun and Sky, Reborn had started to insist that Natsumi try to learn how to use it. And since it was basically healing magic, and not for fighting, Natsumi didn't try to avoid it as much. She might have been scared of fighting, but she did want to be able to help her friends in any way she could.

After picturing the spinning top and focusing her desire to heal Kyoko into the ring, a brighter yellow orange flame appeared on the end of it. Natsumi then focused this energy into Kyoko's legs.

"How does it feel now?" Natsumi asked, her voice calm as still water, in that characteristic way it became when she activated her flames herself.

"That feels really nice." Kyoko mused as she gave a sigh of relief. "You know, you are always really cool when you are using your magical powers."

The complement out of nowhere shocked Natsumi out of her trance and caused her to blush. "Thank you." She mumbled, earning a giggle from the girl.

Part of her was glad that Kyoko knew what was going on, so she could confide in her friend more… Alright, so she thought it was all about magical girls, but Natsumi could still talk to her and Hana about things when she wanted to.

"You can put me down now, Onii-chan." Kyoko said.

"Are you sure? I'd be extremely okay with carrying you to school." Ryohei replied, as worried about his sister as she was about him.

"That's alright, I'm good. As long as we don't do any more running." Kyoko replied with a shake of the head.

"If you don't want to have to do any running, we probably all should be moving then." Shirou suggested.

"Good point. Let's go." Taiga nodded as Ryohei let his sister down, though he still insisted on carrying her things for her.

"So, other than the noodle legs, how was this morning's run?" Shirou asked casually.

"It was EXTREME!" Ryohei replied with a huge grin, flexing his left arm to show off his muscles. "Ever since last week, I have felt SUPER charged and ready to give it my 300%!" His enthusiasm caused everyone to give a weak laugh, something between a normal laugh and a cry of despair. "So when are you and Natsumi-chan going to start joining the rest of the Boxing Club on our morning runs?"

"Onii-san, we aren't part of the Boxing Club." Natsumi said with a sigh.

"Though joining you on a few morning runs isn't a bad idea." Shirou mused.

"Shirou-senpai!?" Natsumi panicked.

"Even with the seal being removed, your body is still recovering. A bit of a morning regiment wouldn't hurt." Shirou explained. "I used to have a morning exercise regiment too… until I became so swamped with work."

"THAT RIGHT!" Ryohei roared his smile threatening to split his face as fire burned in his eyes. "You should all join the Boxing Club's routine, even you, Octopus Head!"

"No means no! Stupid Turf Head!" Gokudera snapped back.

"Come on! Throw away those cigarettes and start working out more, your body will thank you!" Ryohei shouted.

"I don't need to give up on smoking, and there is nothing wrong with my body!"

"Prove it! Let's have an EXTREME run to the school and see how you handle it! I'll leave you alone if your lungs don't collapse on you!"

"Gokudera-san, Onii-san please." Natsumi said, trying to keep the peace, but the two boys were too pumped up to notice.

"Onii-chan, what is it?" Illya asked, drawing Natsumi's attention to her and Shirou as the older brother stood in front of the girl, one arm held out in order to keep the girl behind him as his eyes focused back the way they had come.

"Illya, whatever you do, don't leave my side." Shirou said seriously.

Natsumi was surprised by his sudden behavior, but then she too started to feel like something was deeply wrong.

The sounds of a motorcycle blared and the entire group stopped to watch as a woman dressed entirely in black on a black motorcycle drove towards them, only to stop when she was next to them on the road.

Natsumi was nervous as the woman pulled off her helmet to reveal a head of long pink-purple hair, and oval face, sharp eyes and narrow lips. She seemed to be a mature seventeen, and looked as though she should be doing makeup commercials or posing for magazine covers.

"Bianch… ugh…" Gokudera started to say something, but then suddenly collapsed, clutching at his stomach, his face turning purple and his eyes rolling back in his head.

"Ah! Octopus Head's smoke damaged lungs are already EXTREMELY giving out on him!" Ryohei shouted in panic. "Don't worry! I know CPR!"

Gokudera started to twitch more frantically than ever as Ryohei grabbed onto the boy's face and tried to force him to open his mouth.

"Gokudera, are you alright!?" Natsumi shouted, almost as panicked as Ryohei, then the woman on the bike called out something.

"Catch." She said, tossing an opened juice can towards Natsumi.

Natsumi could sense danger coming from the can, and her flame enhanced eyes could even see a miniature of purple and red fire radiating from the opened lid, but before she could even start to react, Shirou jumped into action.

In the blink of an eye, Shirou was between Natsumi and the woman and slapped the can to the side with one of his conjured blades. The can spun away, its contents splatting on the stone walkway, which started to sizzle and smoke as the concrete itself began to rot away. Natsumi paled, thinking of what that concoction would have done if it had hit her instead.

The moment Shirou had moved, the woman pulled down on the accelerator on her bike and was half way down the block within two seconds. Not that it made any difference.

Shirou's sword disappeared, to be replaced by a pair of spikes on either end of a long chain. He immediately threw one of the spikes, having it pierce through the body of the motorcycle before planting his feet and giving the chain a hard pull, ripping the motorcycle out from under the woman and sending her bouncing down along the road.

She was still trying to get back to her feet as Shirou rushed towards her, throwing the other spike as well.

*Clang*

Out of nowhere, Reborn appeared, deflecting Shirou's attack and causing the boy to stop in his tracks. "Reborn?" Natsumi said, not yet sure what was going on.

"Reborn-sama!" The woman said with… lust in her voice.

"Sorry about this. I should have intercepted her sooner." Reborn said, looking up at Shirou. "I'd be grateful if you would forget what just happened here."

"Reborn, who is that woman?" Shirou demanded, swords in hand and eyes focused.

"Her name is Bianchi, and she is my lover." Reborn said simply.

"LOVER!" Everyone, save for Shirou… and Gokudera, shouted in surprise. Natsumi vaguely remembered hearing somewhere that Gokudera's sister had been dating Reborn, but her brain couldn't process the details.

"Isn't she a little young for you, Oyaji?" Shirou said, his words joking, but his eyes never wavering.

"Cheeky brat." Reborn said with a smirk, as 'Bianchi' picked him up and started to rub her cheek against him.

"I expect an explanation for this." Shirou said.

"You'll get it, but it will take time. I'll take Bianchi back home and we can talk after school." Reborn said, not seeming to mind being held by the woman in such a manner.

"Fine, but if I see anything suspicious…"

"There won't be. I give my word." Reborn replied before jumping out of Bianchi's arms. "Come on Bianchi, let's go."

"Ah, but Hayato?" She said, looking to where Gokudera was still on the ground with more than a little concern.

"He'll be fine. Shirou-kun can drop him off with Shamal at school. He'll take care of it." Reborn assured her.

The face momentarily went unhappy at Shamal's name, but quickly relaxed. "Alright, darling." She said, before turning to Shirou. "I know he can be a little bit spoiled at times, but please take care of my little brother."

"Um… sure." Shirou said, not used to people he had just almost maimed being this friendly with him. With that, and her behavior towards Reborn, she didn't seem to be right in the head.

She just left her destroyed bike in the center of the road as she walked off with Reborn, perfectly happy.

"Is Reborn-san dating a witch?" Illya asked with a tilt of the head.

She still had a better idea of what was going on than the rest of them.

* * *

**Some people have asked why I don't hurry up past the Life Arc and get to Mukuro and the ring battles faster.**

**The answer is simply, because I don't handle time skips very well. This is my writing style. I know its slow, but sorry, that is the way it is.**

**I know that 'Blades of the Unlimited Sky' reached the ring battles by chapter 12, that was a very different type of story than I have. I'm trying to develop both the mechanics of the world and the histories of the characters more than was given in the source material, which means I can't just skip past introductions and internal dialogues, even for what you think are minor characters, because it is people's reactions to the minor characters that help to define them.**

**Shirou isn't a Mary Sue derailing an already off the rails plot, but a man who lives in constant fear of failing the people he loves and of being betrayed by them, barely being kept emotionally stable by the mystic effects of the Sky Flames of the people around him. **

**Reborn isn't just a chaotic asshole, but someone with years of guilt, mistakes and secret hopes, who is trying to raise people who are better than himself so that they can be the person that he could not. **

**Natsumi isn't just a naive girl desperate for love, but a girl who has suffered deception and betrayal and who is afraid of being deceived again.**

**Yamamoto isn't an idiot baseball fanatic, but someone who is constantly putting on a smile to hide the fact that he feel empty inside.**

**Timoteo isn't just a crime leader, he is a man who has done things that he knew were beyond forgiveness, justifying them to himself by saying it was for the family. **

**Iemitsu isn't just a moron who ran out on his family, he is a moron who was running away from his own guilt, knowing that he can never fix them.**

**It's what changes a straight comedy to something else. Something that KHR did very well after the life arc.**

* * *

**!Spoilers!**

**My current idea of how everything goes down with the ring battles is that Natsumi and Shirou give Xana the beat down, but Natsumi recognizes that Xana needs to become the Vongola Boss in order to justify her existence and emotionally recover from what Timoteo did to her. So Natsumi uses a fake ring made by Shirou to trick everyone into thinking that Xana is the real heir and that Natsumi is the one unqualified. **

**This results in Mukuro attempting to betray them, because it goes against what he wanted to have happen, i.e. Natsumi becoming the boss in order to bring down the Mafia World, so Mammon can step up to fill the Mist role.**

**Then the future arc would be Xana, Natsumi and her guardians being transported into the main canon future arc, but into Italy, and having to deal with Xanxus.**


	22. Chapter 22

"So, I'm guessing Bianchi has finally made her entrance then, huh?" Shamal said disinterestedly as Shirou and Natsumi brought Gokudera into the nurses' office. "Just drop him in one of the beds and leave him there."

"You're actually going to help with one, right?" Shirou said, giving the man a hard look as he returned to his dirty magazine.

Shirou's duties as fake janitor and fake Disciplinary Committee VP had expanded to include fake nurse since the man had shown up, due to the fact that Shamal wouldn't treat any of the guys that came in.

"No need. There isn't anything actually wrong with him. He just goes into shock like this whenever he sees his sister. His body instinctively seized up to get ready to expel all poisons. Let him rest for awhile and he'll be back on his feet." Shamal said with a shrug.

"Why would he react like that around his own sister?" Natsumi asked, confused.

"That little Ojou-chan, is because Bianchi isn't your ordinary person. Every single thing that Bianchi touches turns poisonous." Shamal explained. "You can think of it as being like the Curse of Midas, only instead of gold, it's sickness."

"Hiieee!?"

"Bianchi-chan first started to come into her powers when she was only ten years old, not even realizing it herself at the time. A five-year-old Hayato was having a piano recital, and Bianchi, being the loving big sister that she was, decided to bake him some cookies." Shamal snorted. "Kid got a serious case of food poisoning and the recital was a disaster, but for some reason, all those idiots listening to it thought that it was 'supposed' to sound like that, and that it was deep and artistic. So their father decided to force Hayato to eat his sister's cookies before every recital. Now the boy stops just short of puking whenever he sees his sister's face."

"That's…" Natsumi said, stammering a bit at the thought.

"You seem to know a lot about it." Shirou said, digging for info.

"I had been hired by the family several times in the past. I was actually there up until Reborn took on Bianchi as an apprentice." Shamal said. "Beyond that I can't tell you. Doctor patient confidentiality and all that."

"You just did tell us something, that someone there was your patient. And since it was someone we might ask about, it must be either Gokudera or Bianchi, and given your policy about treating men…" Shirou said.

"Smart brat. I see why Reborn likes you so much." Shamal huffed.

"So, Bianchi's parents hired you to help cure their daughter of her poison touch? Considering I can still smell her from a mile away, I'm guessing it didn't work out." Shirou said.

"Smelled huh? Storm user?" Shamal asked. "The Storm Flames are related to the Muladhara Chakra, located in the asshole. If the Flames are pure enough, they have been known to give a supernaturally enhanced sense of smell."

"Smart old man. I see why Reborn likes you so much." Shirou replied, not seeming happy about it.

Shamal snorted. "Well, doctor patient confidentiality, that's all you're getting out of me. Ask Reborn if you are really interested, now be good students and just go to class." Shamal said.

"You really can't tell us any more than that?" Natsumi asked, still confused over everything she had seen that day.

Shamal paused for a moment, before adding something else. "Tell me Emiya-kun, if you really are so smart, how do you think that Bianchi's poison works?"

"...They are a mixture of Storm and Cloud Flames. The Storm Flames provide the corrosive effect while the Cloud Flames propagate the effect and spread it to everything she touches." Shirou said, sounding like more than just a random guess.

"Right on the money." Shamal said. "I don't know what happened when you met her, but I can take a good guess. Bianchi isn't a bad girl. The Cloud Flames are connected to the Sahasrara, the highest spiritual center, so users have a tendency to be a little disconnected from reality and often fall back on easy to understand rules in order to function. Take that Hibari kid and his belief that everyone is either a Carnivore and a Herbivore as an example. Bianchi never wanted to hurt Hayato. She just couldn't understand that her cooking was causing him pain. In Bianchi's mind, so long as it is a gesture of love, it has to be good."

"A gesture of love." Natsumi mumbled, feeling sort of sad for the woman, despite everything.

"Now that is seriously all I'm telling you. So get to class." Shamal said, before kicking them out of the room. They went willingly.

He had already given them enough to think about.

* * *

_"Boss, Mr. Reborn, we're here." Romario called back to Dino and Reborn as the car pulled up to the Barbagallo Famiglia's mansion._

_They were a low key group, with only baseline knowledge about the greater world, but with a solid foundation, over five hundred members and a good finances. All in all, a completely insignificant group within the Vongola Alliance, and one that Reborn would have normally just ignored all together, save for that it was his old friend Doctor Shamal who had called him in, and because the case sounded interesting._

_"Oy, Reborn. Thanks for coming." Shamal said as he approached the car, dressed in a full hazard suit. "I'm afraid the situation here has gotten a bit out of hand."_

_"I can see." Reborn said as he looked over the multitude of medical tents that had been set up. Even from this distance, he could still feel the flames of the little girl within the mansion, radiating outwards, infecting everything that got too close._

_"Up until recently, I'd been able to control it somewhat with my Trident Mosquitoes, but now even my mosquitoes drop dead before they can touch her. The poison is getting stronger by the hour." Shamal explained._

_"Interesting. I think I'll have a look inside." Reborn said with a smile._

_"We've got a hazard suit already waiting for you." Shamal said, gesturing towards one of the tents._

_"Not needed. I'd rather not have to have my first face to face meeting with the girl be through one of those suits." Reborn said with a chuckle. "Besides, I really don't need one."_

_"...Forgive me, I forgot just want kind of monster I was dealing with." Shamal said with a sigh._

_"Reborn, should I get one of those suits?" Dino asked._

_Reborn looked up at the eighteen-year-old boy with a smile. He had come a long way in the last nine years, volunteering to go in with Reborn like that. But no. "You are useless without your men around, and I'd rather not drag Romario into this." Reborn replied._

_"Reborn, don't go spreading that rumor around again. I can take care of myself without the boys around." Dino said, with a blush of embarrassment._

_He really couldn't. Without the presence of one of his men, his Flames of Restoration were too chaotic, like their Sun Flame component, and threw off his sense of inner balance. He couldn't even ignite his ring without one of his bonds close by to calm his inner flame._

_"Reborn." The Boss of the Barbagallo Famiglia… um… shit… Reborn forgot his name… ShittyDad™, came up to them, in a pin striped suit and a thick mustache. Reborn had never liked people with overly groomed mustaches, as they were inferior to his sideburns in every possible way. "I apologize for troubling someone as important as you in this family affair of mine."_

_"No problem. It was Shamal who called me here anyways, and I am just curious." Reborn said in his usual cheerful tones._

_"Well, I apologize all the same, and if things do not go well, I will understand if you take… drastic actions." ShittyDad™ said dramatically._

_"...Are you suggesting I kill your daughter?" Reborn asked as five mosquitoes buzzed around the man's head, and Shamal seemed to struggle with the urge to kill him._

_"I'm not suggesting any such thing. I am merely stating that I will not hold Reborn accountable no matter what happens in there." ShittyDad™ said._

_"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Dino shouted, outraged. "That is your daughter in there, isn't it!?"_

_ShittyDad™ narrowed his eyes at Dino. "Is the Cavallone Famiglia in such a good position as to be picking fights?"_

_Dino's face broke at the man's words, and he looked down. "Forgive me. I let myself get carried away." Dino said, a look on his face like someone was pulling out his teeth and his fist clenched hard._

_Despite Dino's best efforts, his father had left him with a dump, a Famiglia that was on the verge of collapsing, more enemies than he could count, and a slew of debts to pay off. With Reborn's help, Dino had managed to claw his way all the way up from the brink of destruction to being a functional Famiglia, but he still lacked the influence to go against ShittyDad™._

_Reborn liked that look in Dino's eyes. The promise that one day, he would have this bastard's neck underneath his boot._

_"We're dealing with pointless hypotheticals here." Reborn chuckled, snapping his student out of his funk. "After all, I don't make a habit of failing."_

_"Reborn." Dino said with a hopeful smile._

_"Well, regardless. I wish you the best, Reborn." ShittyDad™ said before walking off._

_"Fuck that man. Fuck him into the grave." Dino growled as he watched ShittyDad™ go._

_"Now you see the root cause of all this." Shamal said with a sigh. "Usually I'd say this is a doctor patient confidentiality thing, but fuck it. This is a mess and that girl is suffering."_

_"What can you tell us?" Reborn asked with a raised eyebrow._

_"It all started about two months ago, after Bianchi's mother found a hidden stash of love letters between her husband and his old mistress who died four years ago." Shamal said._

_"She's upset about the mistress?" Reborn asked._

_"Hardly. She knew about the mistress and even spent the last seven years raising the woman's bastard as if he was her own son. No, the thing that caused shit to hit the fan was that her husband had proposed to the woman, promising to marry her." Shamal said._

_"He was planning to divorce her?" Dino said, surprised._

_"You are letting your ignorance show again, Pipsqueak Dino." Reborn said as he lowered his head, his hat shielding his eyes. "There is no such thing as divorce in the Mafia World, marriage is until death. So when he promised to marry the woman, what he was really saying was that he would make his current wife disappear."_

_Dino's jaw dropped and he was simply speechless._

_"Not sure where the mother is now. She and hers have been hard to find since she tried to kill the man. He of course has tried to shoot her back." Shamal said. "Luckily, the bastard is long gone, so he's safe, but everything that has happened wasn't good for Bianchi. As a Cloud Flame user, and a powerful one at that, she needs something to anchor her in reality in order to keep her Yin and Yang balanced. For her, it was the delusion that she was a part of a loving family. As that delusion came tumbling down, her poison has become more and more out of control. Her now ex-boyfriend, Romeo, I think, calling her a poisonous frog and dumping her was the stick that broke the camel's back. Her Cloud Flames went out of control, the rate that her poison spread went nuts with it, turning her poisonous touch into a poisonous aura. The little bastard didn't survive. The poison was so strong it burned the skin off his pretty boy face."_

_"Well, I shouldn't wait any longer." Reborn said before walking towards the house on his short legs, everyone watching him._

* * *

_Everything was dead._

_Every bug and potted plant had died to the poisonous flames that spread throughout the building, getting thicker and thicker as Reborn moved towards the source, until even the paint on the walls started to crumble away and the wood turned rutton. He even passed a dead body, someone whose hazard suit wasn't up to the task, where the suit itself started to break down._

_No normal man would have been able to walk into that house without protective equipment, but by cycling their flame energy within the body, one could resist the Flame based poison. Though after a certain point, even Shamal would have started to become ill due to the high concentration of the flames._

_However, Reborn's power was far beyond any normal Flame User, and as such, he had no trouble at all, not even when he came to the room where it was all coming from. Using Leon to twist the door knob and open the door, Reborn walked in._

_The room was an absolute mess, everything was in a state of rot as the mixture of Cloud and Storm Flames ate away at it. But Reborn looked past that at the girl sitting on her bed, her legs pulled in close as she just sat there, a mixture of bright violet and soft red light blanketing her, almost matching the color of her hair._

_There was an IV in her arm, but the bag feeding it had long since fell to pieces, its contents splattered across the floor before being turned into a purple goo like substance by the girl's aura. She was dressed in pajamas, though it was not only covered in holes, but also in the stomach acid, from when the girl's own poison had made her vomit up the contents of her empty stomach. Her skin was too pale to be healthy and she looked like she had long since ran out of tears to cry._

_How long had she been like this? How had she not yet ran out of Flames, bleeding herself dry in her despair?_

_"Who are you?" She asked, her throat horse, either from crying or from being burned by the stomach acid._

_Reborn looked at the poor thing and smiled. "Ciaossu. My name is Reborn, and I'm here for you."_

* * *

The snot bubble coming from Reborn's nose popped as he woke up from his nap, looking up at the face of Bianchi as she had been giving him a lap pillow as he slept.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Bianchi asked, pulling back a hand that had been stroking his cheek.

"No. I'm just finished with my nap." Reborn said. He glanced at the clock. 2:30. It will still be a while before Natsumi and Shirou get back home. "I should probably give you a summary of what's been going on since I got here."

"Of course, my love." Bianchi said softly.

Yes. Love.

"Well, it's a good thing you already like to talk about love." Reborn said with a smile as he looked up at her. "How familiar are you with the 'Magical Girl' genre?"

* * *

**Shorter chapter than usual, but it felt like a natural stopping point for me, as it was the recurring joke line.**

**Funny how Bianchi's constant talk about love actually makes her fit in rather well with the who 'Magical Girl' cover.**

**So is she 'Pretty Cure Poison'?**

**I know that Canon only had her as a straight Storm User, but I have given my reasons for why if felt that Cloud is a good fit for her abilities.**

**Bianchi's poison touch turning into a poison aura when she becomes emotionally distressed is canon, happening during the 'wedding' episode.**

**Being a magical poison, if you don't have Magic Resistance and you are exposed to it, you are FUCKED. But with magic resist you only get bad food poisoning.**


	23. Chapter 23

"Sorry, Judaime. I was unable to do anything to stop her." Gokudera said for what must have been the hundredth time as they all walked home together from school. Ryohei, Kyoko and Hana had already split off from the group, but Taiga and Gokudera were still tagging along.

Taiga's condo wasn't really in that direction, but she was following them anyways out of a hope for snacks.

"It really isn't that big of a deal." Natsumi said with a sigh. "According to Shirou-senpai the poison is almost completely magical, and my own Magic Resistance would have meant that even if I had been splashed, it wouldn't have been any worse than a bad rash."

The idea that something that could melt concrete was actually no threat to her at all was rather jarring. Even if she had gotten it on her, her clothes were all made to be flame resistant, and any skin that got burned by it could be immediately healed through the Flames of Restoration. Even if she had drank it, it wouldn't have been enough to kill her, though Shirou highly suggested not doing that. The poison was a lot less threatening to her than, say, a stick of dynamite.

Still, having no idea why Bianchi had done it was something that had haunted Natsumi all day.

Gokudera had tried to kill her because he had been told he could become the new heir if he did. Hibari had attacked her because he had been curious and wanted entertainment. These things were frightening in themselves, but Natsumi found the not understanding even more frightening.

Reborn said that she was his lover, but she had seemed more like an over affectionate cat.

"Grr… We'll need to find a way to get rid of her." Gokudera growled to himself.

"What!? But isn't she you sister?" Illya said, shocked by the boy's clear distaste for Bianchi.

"She's ONLY my half sister, and as far as I'm concerned, I have nothing to do with that family." Gokudera huffed. "There has never been love between us."

That's not what Shamal had said, and it wasn't what Natsumi saw when she saw the look of concern in the young woman's eyes.

"But, family is supposed to be there for each other." Illya said, looking depressed.

After learning what they knew about the woman, Illya started to paint the picture of a girl suffering under a curse in her head. Someone who would be set free, or learn that the curse wasn't really a curse all along at the end of a happy story. Even Gokudera's reaction fit the stereotype of a cursed girl being hid away or rejected even by their own family.

*Crack!*

"Ouch! Hey, what was that for!?" Gokudera shouted as Taiga cracked him on top of the head with a practice sword.

"For making Illya-chan depress, you insensitive idiot." Taiga snapped at him. "Saying something like 'only my half sister' when she and Shirou aren't blood related."

"Tch, not my fault she lives in a fantasy world. The brat should just grow up and realize that family like mine isn't worth anything. The bitch could die for all I care." Gokudera said.

*Roar!*

"What did you just say, you delinquent brat!?" Taiga roared, causing Gokudera to flinch and take cover behind Natsumi.

"Forget it Fuji-nee. Family isn't about blood. It's about the people you care about. If he wants to deny himself family, then that's on him." Shirou said, drawing the girl's surprise. His expression was back to being serious, and he had been almost silent during their walk so far. "I'm more interested in what is going on between Reborn and Bianchi."

"Well, Reborn said that they were lovers." Taiga said as she was distracted away from Gokudera.

"Lovers huh? According to Gokudera, Reborn and his sister have been dating for over four years. Reborn is almost seventy years old and has the body of an infant. I can't see him falling in love with a thirteen-year-old girl, let alone one who seems… as mentally off as Bianchi was." Shirou mumbled, eyebrows narrowed. "It isn't impossible, but I'd put my money on there is something more to it than that. Bianchi's behavior looked more like someone who was suffering from a really inept preformed charming spell, and as much as I hate the guy, I can't see Reborn placing something like that on someone."

Natsumi would admit that Shirou was right. Things had seemed extremely odd between the pair. ...It was like the gaga behavior that Natsumi's own mother displayed whenever her father had been around. Though Reborn wasn't even pretending to be flirtatious.

"Wait, Reborn is almost seventy?" Taiga said with wide eyes. "Holy cow, I thought that Bianchi was the cradle robber, but that is…"

"I'm much less concerned about the age gap than what else might be going on. If they really are in love, then good for them. If it is some kind of charm effect, then why?" Shirou asked before shaking his head. "I guess we are about to find out." The Emiya residence was coming up on their left and Shirou looked at it with a scowl. "Reborn and Bianchi are in our house."

"Huh? How can you tell?" Illya asked.

"Just like you and Natsumi can see magical energy, I can smell it. Both Reborn and Bianchi produce very strong smells." Shirou explained. "I have no idea how they got past all of my wards. I could maybe understand a slippery thing like Reborn somehow managing to get in but Bianchi… mom must have invited them in." Shirou said, seeming unhappy about it. Suddenly, Natsumi realized why everyone always seemed to wait at the very end of the driveway whenever they weren't invited. "I swear, if that woman is in my kitchen..."

As Shirou was saying this, Gokudera started to try to slink away quietly.

"Where do you think you're going?" Shirou said, reaching out and grabbing the boy's collar, lifting him up. "You're part of this mess, I'm not letting you get out of it."

"Hey, let me go!" Gokudera struggled against Shirou's iron grip. "I can't go in there! If I so much as look at her face I become sick to my stomach!"

"Honestly, how inept are you people?" Shirou said before pushing Gokudera to the ground. "Hold still." He instructed said as he held Gokudera's face and held it tight with one hand as his other went to the boy's forehead. Natsumi watched as Shirou traced a rune on Gokudera's forehead, leaving a bluish trail of magical energy, while mumbling something to himself, Gokudera's eyes wide as they stared up into Shirou's. The entire thing didn't take more than three seconds, before Shirou let go of Gokudera. "Done."

"What… what the hell did you do to me!?" Gokudera demanded.

"I used a basic hypnosis in order to erase the cognitive connection between your sister's face as your stomach cramps. Consider yourself cured."

"You can do that?" Taiga blinked in surprise.

"Weakening an existing connection for someone with almost no Magic Resistance at all is a piece of cake, even for a third rate spellcaster like me." Shirou said with a shrug.

"Third rate spellcaster?" Natsumi repeated, laughing a little at Shirou's self defacement, though Shirou looked at her in surprise at her disbelief.

"...Did I never tell you? I never actually finished my apprenticeship. Actually, I lacked the talent to finish it. In Magus Society, I would be considered the equivalent of someone who flunked out of highschool and became a plumber."

"...You're joking, right?" Natsumi said. If Shirou was a highschool dropout, what was a full fledged wizard like?

That thought haunted her as they moved towards the Emiya residence, Shirou dragging Gokudera along against his will.

"Welcome back everyone, how was your day at school?" Irisviel asked cheerfully as she sat on the family coach, across from Bianchi and Reborn who were in an armchair, Reborn sitting on the woman's lap.

"School was good, though Hibari is still a pain." Shirou said casually as they came in and took off their shoes. "Mom, I thought we had a talk about inviting strange people into the house."

"Reborn and Bianchi aren't strangers. Your father and I have known them for years." Irisviel said with a giggle. "Bianchi was around your age when we first met her, and so cute. It's really something, thinking how she's grown up into such a lovely young lady in such a short period of time."

"I'm grateful for everything that you and Kiri-senpai had done for me in my pursuit of love." Bianchi said with a gentle smile.

...Natsumi didn't even want to know the kind of love advice the woman had received from Aunt Iris. That knowledge would probably only frighten her.

"Stop being a baby and greet your sister." Shirou said, flinging Gokudera forward, towards Bianchi.

Gokudera held his eyes tightly shut at first, but slowly looked up at Bianchi's face.

"It's good to see you are feeling better, Hayato." Bianchi said as she saw her little brother.

Gokudera stared at her for a moment, blinking a bit before he started to laugh. "Hahaha, I'm cured! I'm really cured!" He said getting back to his feet, a look of pure happiness on his face… before the look turned a little more sinister. Natsumi was horrified as she saw Gokudera reaching for his dynamite. "Which means I can finally get my payback for all…"

Before Gokudera could finish that thought, magical energy came rushing up out of the floorboards and towards the silver haired boy. Gokudera shook violently before collapsing to the ground in a twitching mess.

"Hayato!?" Bianchi shouted in surprise, going to her brother, not seeming concerned at all that he had just been about to attack her.

"...Why?" Gokudera mumbled from the ground.

"You broke the rules of no violence in this house and the bounded field I set up punished you for it." Shirou said, just before Hayato lost consciousness.

"...Wizards sure are scary." Taiga said, as she swallowed and put away her practice sword gingerly.

"Don't worry. You and Natsumi are both registered with the bounded field, so it won't target you. The point of the barrier is to give you a fighting chance against a stronger intruder, not to stop you from fighting back. The only reason Gokudera was knocked unconscious is because he lacks any Magic Resistance." Shirou explained.

"Honestly, Hayato is always like this." Bianchi said with a sigh. "Is there anywhere we can put him while he is recovering?"

"I think I saw a garbage can outside." Taiga mumbled, getting a weak laugh out of Natsumi.

* * *

"Help yourselves to anything you like." Shirou said after he set out several plates of snacks and some tea, giving Bianchi her own separate plate.

"Thank you for the hospitality." Bianchi said before reaching out and picking up one of the cookies.

Natsumi and Illya felt a little ill as in their eyes, the normal cookie turned a horrible shade of purple and they thought they could see bugs crawling around on it. Not that it seemed to bother Bianchi at all, as she simply ate it.

The girls were aware that it only looked like that because of their ability to see magical energy, and that no one else could see anything off about it, but it was still disturbing.

"How can you eat something like that?" Illya asked.

Bianchi blinked before realizing what Illya meant and replied with a light smile. "It's not so bad. You just need to focus on the feeling inside of the food, rather than the taste of the food itself."

Hearing her say it with such a gentle smile was absolutely heartbreaking.

"Ah! Introductions! I forgot to introduce myself!" Illya said in a panic before giving her curtsy to Bianchi. "I'm Emiya Illyasviel, but you can call me Illya."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Bianchi, Reborn's lover." Bianchi replied. The introductions continued until they got to Shirou, when Bianchi seemed to register something. "Oh, so you were the one Reborn was talking about."

"...I'm almost afraid to ask what he said about me." Shirou said with a sigh.

"It was nothing much. He just told me that you were a metalworker and that you were working as his intern." Bianchi replied.

"...What?"

"Congratulations on your promotion. Intern is a huge step up from lackey." Reborn said cheerfully.

"If I'm your intern, I'm not getting paid nearly enough for the work I do." Shirou said, rubbing his eyes in tired resignation.

"I gave you a suitcase full of the most valuable gems in the entire world." Reborn said flatly.

"And I'm still not being paid enough to put up with you!" Shirou half shouted. Irisviel couldn't take it and broke into giggles, unable to take the absurdity. Taiga and Natsumi's chuckles being more of the kind given by people who have resigned themselves to the fact that this was their lives. Illya and Bianchi didn't seem to understand it.

"Um, Bianchi-san." Illya said nervous in order to get the young woman's attention. "Sorry if this is rude but, how old are you?"

"Hm, I'm seventeen." Bianchi replied.

"Then you really are as young as you look." Illya mumbled before blushing in embarrassment. "I mean, I'm sorry. It's just that I was surprised that you and Reborn are an item. I wasn't sure how it worked since Reborn is so much older, and is a fairy and all." Illya stammered in that flustered way she had.

Bianchi just smiled and shook her head. "That's alright. Age, race, gender, none of that stuff matters when it comes to love. Anyone who tries to put taboos or restrictions on it is a fool. How can any law be allowed to restrict something like love, when love is the only real justice there is! That is why, as a Magical Girl, the love and justice that I fight for is LOVE and LOVE!"

"Y...yeah!" Illya said, looking up in a mixture of shock and admiration at Bianchi's bizarre declaration.

Natsumi and Shirou's heads both fell into their hands.

* * *

"She certainly is a unique individual." Taiga said with an awkward smile as they left Bianchi and Illya to watch TV together while the rest of them sat together to discuss things for real. Taiga wasn't really sure how to begin, and was making benign conversation. Shirou just cut to the point.

"Why did Bianchi attack Natsumi this morning?" Shirou asked Reborn directly.

"Yes, sorry about that. Bianchi doesn't exactly like to have to compete for my attention, so she was trying to remove Natsumi to free up my timetable for her." Reborn admit. "She tried to do the same thing with my last student as well."

"Isn't that cute, she was jealous." Irisviel giggled.

"That isn't cute, that's terrifying." Taiga said, while Natsumi swallowed hard.

"I talked to her, and she's accepted that I hired Shirou-kun to lighten the load so that I would have more time for her. So she shouldn't be trying to kill anymore… though I do suggest you keep an eye on everything you eat from now on." Reborn suggested.

"So you do think she's going to try to kill me." Natsumi cried weakly.

"The opposite. I think she will start to take a liking to you all, and Bianchi likes to show her affection by cooking for the people that she likes." Reborn explained.

"...What?" Shirou's voice was dark as his eyes moved to where Bianchi and Illya were getting along VERY well. A dagger started to form in the air, pointing straight at the woman's back, only to be slapped out of the air by a green whip.

Shirou and Reborn glared at each other with hard eyes. A vision of a massive mammoth seemed to appear behind Reborn, while a savage tiger appeared behind Shirou. Natsumi and Taiga were getting nervous, though Irisviel just continued to smile and eat the snacks, as if nothing was wrong.

"With how strong Illya and Natsumi's flames are, they can easily detect when something is wrong, and even if they do accidentally eat something, it won't hurt them beyond a serious stomach ache. Killing her is overreacting a bit." Reborn said harshly.

"Yeah, but what about the rest of us?" Taiga mumbled weakly.

"Reborn, what is the connection between you and Bianchi, and don't say she is your lover. I want to know what is really going on." Shirou said coldly. "You clearly feel responsible for the girl, but why is that?"

"...Fine. I'll tell you." Reborn said with a sigh. "I am the one who sealed Bianchi's flame."

Natsumi couldn't help but to gasp, her entire body going rigid as she heard Reborn's confession. Memories of her own experience with seals coming back to her. "Reborn, how could you?"

"I first met Bianchi when she was about your age, right after a personal tragedy had caused her flames to go completely out of control. She didn't even need to touch things to spread her poison and it was growing at such an alarming rate that even her own body was breaking down. Not only that, she was burning through her lifeforce faster than it could recover. So, I did the only thing I could do to save her life." Reborn said.

"I had a feeling it was something like that after Shamal talked about how strong her Cloud Flame was, even though it appears to be only a secondary element to me. Bianchi didn't fall in love with you, you made her become obsessed with you." Shirou said, though he didn't seem happy about being right.

"Shirou, what are you talking about?" Taiga asked, confused.

"Each of the Dying Will Flames is related to one of the Chakras, and each of the Chakras has its own Yin and Yang that act as activators and inhibitors. For the Sky Flames, the activators are things like self-confidence and compassion, while the inhibitors are fear and distrust." Shirou explained. "In the case of the Sahasrara, which is connected to the Cloud Flames, the Yin is the ability to let go of your connection to the material world, while the Yang is clinging to those attachments. By causing Bianchi to become completely and utterly obsessed with him, Reborn effectively slapped a seal on her Cloud Flames. Though unlike the seal on you that completely stopped the flow of energy, this only weakens the flow. So while it still has an effect on Bianchi's mental state, it at least isn't a threat to her health."

"I should have known you'd figure it out." Reborn said. "When I first met her, I formed a bond with her in order to use my own flames to restore the flames that she had lost and to help her body break down the poison she had infected herself with."

"A bond? I thought bonding was part of the Sky Flames." Natsumi asked.

"While the Sky Flames are the best at doing it, they aren't the only ones that can form bonds. Sun, Cloud and Mist Flames are all compatible with one and other, as are Rain, Storm and Lightning Flames." Reborn explained. "But when the relative power between the two Flame is too great, it can cause problems, and my power was way too much for Bianchi, causing her to become obsessed with me. Her poor mental state at the time didn't help matters. Now, if I don't maintain the connection, her condition will deteriorate again and she will likely go berserk."

"No way." Natsumi said, looking over to Bianchi.

"So tell me, Shirou-kun, do you think I am a monster?"

"...Yes, but not for that." Shirou said with a sigh. "I probably would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes."

"So then, would you consider helping her?" Reborn asked.

"Help her how?" Shirou asked, looking genuinely surprised.

"I have no idea. If I know how, I would have done it himself years ago." Reborn replied.

"Fixing a distortion in someone's energy flow is far beyond me. Even among Magus, the Origin required to make that work is one in a million. Even if I could, I wouldn't. There are consequences in messing with someone's soul." Shirou said with a shake of his head.

"So you don't have a way of stopping her flames from snowballing out of control?" Reborn said.

"That would just be replacing your seal with one of my own, and I don't have one that would be safe to use in this scenario. If anything, mine would make things much worse." Shirou said. "...I might be able to make an external seal that you can use to counteract her poison touch, without hurting her. But that is about the limit to my abilities. She would still need something to stop her from bleeding herself dry."

"What would you need?" Reborn asked without hesitation.

"Any number of things could work. I'll just start with the most effective and work my way down, Tell me when it is something you can manage. …Can you get me the shroud of a true saint?" Shirou asked.

"Ah… What happened to your reasonable requests?" Reborn asked, seeming a little flustered.

"How about the venom of a manticore?"

"You're joking, right?"

"A meteorite?"

"...That one I can do. How much do you need?"

"Not much. Just enough to make a pair of regular chain bracelets and a necklace."

"I'll check with my contacts and get it here in three days."

"Then I'll get things set up over here." Shirou said before tiredly pawing at his face. "Another busy weekend ahead for me."

"I'll see what I can do to make it worth your wild." Reborn said cheekily.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Shirou said, waving him off before changing gears. "Do you love her?"

"...Doesn't everyone deserve to feel loved?" Reborn counted.

"...I suppose you're right." Shirou replied with a sigh.

Reborn's sentiments seemed to have been enough for Shirou, though Natsumi couldn't help but wonder if that had been a yes or a no.

* * *

Reborn swallowed slightly as Bianchi placed a plate of what looked to be normal scrambled eggs and hash browns in front of him, a heart drawn in ketchup on the eggs.

It was the moment of truth, and while he knew that even if it was still poisoned, he wouldn't be harmed from it, his taste buds didn't relish the idea of a misstep. He had eaten Bianchi's cooking several times in the past, in order to not hurt her feelings, but it was never an easy battle, and with each passing year, her poison became more potent, and the struggle became harder.

Deciding to just take his leap of faith quickly, he scooped up a spoonful and shoved it into his mouth. "Um, it's good." He said, genuinely meaning it for the first time ever.

"I'm glad you liked it." Bianchi said with a wide smile of her how, her hands clasped in front of her chest, highlighting both the black chains on either wrist stopping her poison touch from her hands and the one around her neck to keep her mouth poison free. All of them removable, in case Bianchi needed access to her flames.

The Poison Scorpion herself had been moved to tears when she had tasted non-poisoned food for the first time in seven years, something she had resigned herself to never taste again.

"Would you like seconds?" Bianchi asked.

"Yes. That would be nice. And some coffee too." Reborn replied as he settled into his seat.

Today was a good day… He wondered how he should go about spicing it up.

* * *

**Still haven't decided what I am doing with Taiga's pseudo-ring. Might just end up making it a blue cartoon tiger if nothing good is suggested.**

* * *

**People keep saying I am treating Gokudera unfairly, but I haven't had him do anything that was out of character, and most of people's reactions towards him are canon. Hibari does kick his ass for standing up to him, and Ryohei does freak out about smoking. Taiga is down for having a personal dislike for 'delinquents' and Shirou really should have killed Gokudera after he first showed up.**

**Even in the original canon, Tsuna didn't view Gokudera as a friend and saw him as a violent sociopath stalker for the first eight months or so that they were together. Not really admitting any amount of friendship until the festival after the new year. And Natsumi isn't nearly as desperate for friends as Tsuna was.**

**Unfortunately, because I was planning a chapter for Gokudera to grow up and allow Shirou and Reborn have an argument over the difference between 'Loyalty' and 'Obsession', I couldn't kill Gokudera. **

**Now, I think I am just going to not have such a chapter and have him die. Because fuck you fangirls.**


	24. Chapter 24

Emiya Shirou was no stranger to strange dreams.

Ever since the day the first Kiritsugu had first pulled him out of the first fire, he had undergone the dream cycle, as a result of Avalon being implanted inside of him. In the beginning, they were the memories of Arturia Pendragon, the legendary King Arthur, her battles and struggles. He had watched them every night for ten straight years, before the Holy Grail War ever started.

Though after the Holy Grail War, the number of influences increased, as Archer's Arm implanted the memories of nearly every single battlefield in all of history. There were so many to choose from, that Shirou rarely saw the same exact scene twice. Even if the same blade in the same battlefield was picked, slightly different timelines could mean different results. The possibilities were truly unlimited.

Some would probably call this a curse, seeing the horrors of war every time they closed their eyes to rest, but it wasn't so bad. It was still preferable to dreaming of his own past.

Though it did mean that Shirou was understandably confused when he found himself standing in a nearly endless field of bright orange flowers, stretching out into the infinity under a crystal blue sky, with only a few thin clouds. Down from the sky came what appeared to be the roots of a tree, withered in places, but still breathtaking in their size and numbers.

The scene was so peaceful that it was almost jarring for Shirou, who was long since used to his dreams of blood and war. It was even somewhat of a relief to him, when he felt the old familiar pressure of a killing intent within the dream. ...Though it was a surprise to have it directed at him.

Well, he wasn't sure what would happen if he died in a weird dream, but he wasn't in a hurry to find out.

Shirou spun around, tracing his swords just in time to catch a boomerang, covered in bright orange flames.

Despite its apparent mass and speed, the force behind the attack was considerable. Considerable enough that Shirou was nearly pushed off balance as he just managed to deflect the projectile, which spun through the air before returning to the figure that threw it.

There were four of them, dark silhouettes with the flames of the sky burning like masquerade masks over the top halves of their faces, each one holding a different weapon.

"What are they doing here?" Even if it was a dream, Shirou naturally knew the weapons on sight, and by extension, their holders, the past Bosses of the Vongola Famiglia. The Third boss and Fourth boss had a knife and a fork respectively, the Sixth boss had been the one to throw the boomerang, while the Seventh boss was holding a pair of old six-shooters.

It seemed as if the figures were not in the chatting mood, as the Third and Fourth bosses both charged forward with weapons in hand.

The attacks were brutally strong, nearly as strong as Reborn's, and with two attackers at once, Shirou was batted back and forth as he struggled to continue to defend himself. He managed to give himself room for counter attacks but with their speed, the old bosses could manage to avoid it.

Attempting to fall back on old strategies, Shirou left one of his fake openings, attempting to draw out an attack. For a moment, he thought it would work, as the Fourth Boss pushed forward with his oversized flaming fork, but rather than go for the opening, he swerved up to slam straight into Shirou's guard again, knocking him up into the air with pure force.

The Magus recovered, tossing his swords at the pair of attackers to give them something to deal with while he regained his footing, but was left confused as to why they had ignored his trap, until it hit him.

Vongola Hyper Intuition.

Fuck.

His normal style would do him no good here, which meant he was in serious trouble. The suicidal style of fighting was the only way he had to deal with opponents who were on the Servant level while working within the limitations of his body. ...Unless.

The boomerang came again, aiming for his back, so Shirou called forth Rho Aias, the Anti Thrown Weapon Noble Phantasm, which deflected the attack as if it was nothing at all, and created a barrier between Shirou's back and the Fourth Boss's fork as the Third charged at him from the front.

Rather than summoning another copy of the married swords, Shirou took a leap of faith and tried a different approach, hoping that he was right.

A five foot long blade, the Monohoshi Zao, or the Laundry-Drying Pole. It was a blade that was too damn long for normal use, and required an entirely different style of fighting in order to work, and while Shirou's ability to read the sword's history and copy its uses style allowed him to do so, it had never been the best option.

This would be the first time he used it in actual combat.

Getting into the stance, with feet planted and sword held high, Shirou faced his attacker and let it rip.

Tsubame Gaeshi, an irrational attack that pushed the wielder to beyond the limits of what should be possible through skill and strength alone, going so far as to bend time. Even with the Vongola Hyper Intuition allowing the old boss to read the flow of the attack, there was simply nothing to be done.

The three slashes occurred, so rapidly as to appear instantaneous. The first slash cut off his movements and stopped his advance. The second slash blocked his escape, forcing him to guard. The third slash… the third slash took the figure's head from his shoulders, and as the body fell, it burst into bright orange flames.

Shirou breathed a sigh of relief as he realized his hypothesis was true.

Just like any of the other signature attacks of the Servants he had once seen in the Holy Grail War, he should NOT have been able to perform Tsubame Gaeshi. Beyond simply the skill required in order to pull them off was the strength required to.

Assassin's Tsubame Gaeshi, Lancer's Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death, Berserker's Nine Lives Shooting the Hundred Heads, even if Shirou understood the techniques perfectly, there was no way his human body could perform them. Even when he had the physical strength of Archer's Arm to take the brunt of it, the 'Nine Lives Blade Works', his bastardized form of Berserker's attack, had nearly ripped that arm off to perform, and was nowhere near the level of the original.

Even if he had the knowledge and the weapons, Shirou could only dream of ever using such techniques. Of course, this WAS a dream. So why should the limitations of his physical body matter here? His only real limitation should be what he could imagine, and he could imagine a lot.

He was going to have fun with this.

He turned to face the Seventh Vongola Boss, who had been charging up an attack since the fight began, and who pulled the trigger on his gun as soon as he noticed Shirou turning to face him.

*Boom!*

The burst of fire that came from the gun's small muzzle was like the blast from an A-rank Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm. Something that could punch through the Great Wall of China, more than 50 times over.

Shirou planted his feet and called out Svalinn, the shield that holds back the flames of the sun in Norse Mythology, a Divine Construct. To trace such a thing in the real world would have cost Shirou more magical energy than he could generate in three months, but why should such a limitation matter here?

Intense as the flames were, they were nothing but a warm breeze in the face of Svalinn's divine purpose. Only the wind from the attack made it through, though even that pushed Shirou back several feet.

Using the room given to him by the others evacuating the area before the attack, Shirou began to counterattack. "Trace Bullet: Continuous fire!" Wave after wave of irresponsibly expensive A-rank Anti-Unit Noble Phantasms appeared in the air, shooting off at speeds that approached the sound barrier, forcing the Vongola Bosses to dodge for their lives.

The logistics of how much magical energy it would take to actually do this outside of his Reality Marble only highlighted for Shirou just how absurd being like Gilgamesh had been. If it wasn't for their Hyper Intuition showing them the routes to survival, all three of the Bosses would have died in an instant.

But while they were all held at bay, he got to work on picking them off.

Archer's massive black bow appeared in his hands and Shirou traced a copy of Caladbolg. "I am twisted at my core." Shirou said calmly as the spiral sword transformed into an arrow. He pulled it back, pumping it full of the imaginary magic energy until it broke, before encasing it in Storm Flames for good measure, and then let it rip.

As the boomerang and gun had both been hard countered by his shields, Shirou aimed to remove the only target that was an actual threat, the fork.

As the arrow fired and the air twisted in around it, sucking everything in, the dark silhouette holding the fork just stood there, understanding that there was absolutely nothing it could do.

*BOOM!*

The explosion scattered orange petals everywhere as the wind from the attack shook the world around them, leaving nothing but a crater where the Fourth Boss had once been standing.

With two more targets on the range, Shirou prepared to repeat the process, until a massive wave of fire, as powerful as the charged shot fired by the Seventh Boss before, came out of nowhere, blowing away the storm of swords he had been throwing in the direction of the bosses and forcing him to return to using Svalinn to guard against it.

After guarding against the surprise attack, Shirou turned to face yet another dark silhouette. This one was unarmed, dark red and burnt orange flames encompassing his hands, a mixture of Storm and Sky Flames, in such quantities as to rival Reborn's, perhaps even surpass him.

Forgetting the other two, Shirou turned all his focus onto the new threat, tracing as many swords as he could and launching them at the figure. With the man being unarmed, Shirou had zero way of reading him and his style of fighting, making him by far the greatest threat that sword magus could go up against.

As the swords came shooting towards him, the man leaned forward, his hands held out by his sides. The flames in either hand grow larger and larger before exploding out behind him causing him to be launched forward like a rocket, instantly breaking the sound barrier and pushing up to at least four times the speed of sound in the amount of time it took him to cover the distance between himself and Shirou. All the while he made extremely precise course adjustments in order to avoid the volley of swords that Shirou had thrown at him.

Shirou pulled Svalinn in front of him as the figure through a inferno infused punch while flying towards him at high speeds. Svalinn still managed to dispel the flames, but the force behind the blow was still insane.

Shirou went flying backwards so fast as to break the sound barrier himself. His head was spinning from the pain of both his arms shattering as he spiraled through the air, but he was still aware enough of what was going to happen to the rest of his body should he hit the ground unprepared.

Shirou reinforced his body as much as he could, turning his skin and bones into steel in hopes of surviving the impact. Then he went a step further, doing something he had seen Reborn do. He started to leak out his Dying Will Flames, wrapping them around his body as best he could to further protect it.

In his own attempts to recreate the technique, Shirou had found generating and controlling enough flames to protect his entire body to be difficult, so he concentrated most of protecting his heart, brain and lungs, accepting that everything else would get damaged, but willing to make the sacrifice if he could stay alive.

It was not a pleasant landing, though Shirou somehow managed to protect his head enough to stop it from brain damage… if such a thing was possible in this world. That said, he had broken several bones and punctured many important organs.

"I am the Bone of my Sword." Shirou said, using the phrase in its most literal sense. His body, his entire being was a sword, and even if the sword was broken, it could be reforged. His insides felt like they were on fire as his body started the process of knitting itself back together with bits of projected metal.

Only, he wasn't going to be given the time for such a thing.

The man with the flaming hands landed nearby, with a horrible thud that shook the ground.

Shirou did his best to play dead, hoping that the guy would buy it… but since he appeared to also be a Vongola Boss, with his own Hyper Intuition. Shirou gave up the bluff when he sensed the man building up his flames for another attack.

Pushing his broken body over, Shirou tried to position his shield between himself and the man who was about to try to roast him alive, only for one of the figure's hands to reach out and grab onto the edge of the shield and pull it down so that he could reach his glowing red-orange hand towards Shirou's face.

Shirou was struggling to try to imagine and way out of this one, when a second hand, one covered by a black glove with a metal roman numeral 'I' on its back, grabbed onto the first man's wrist.

The oranges flames on the back of the glove flickered with a sort of white light as the ice of what appeared to be something like a Snow Flame grew over the fiery hand, snuffing out the flame before it could blast Shirou in the face.

"_You have gone more than far enough._" Echoed a calm and even voice as the new arrival shoved the first man away before standing in front of Shirou, leaving the Magus to look up at the silhouette of the gloved man in his long coat.

Shirou analyzed the coat and gloves' histories and confirmed what he had already expected. The First Vongola Boss.

"_Out of the way, Primo._" Came a much angrier voice. "_We cannot allow a cursed individual like him to be here._" The ice on the man's hand shattered as the flames came back alive.

"_That is for her to decide, not us._" The calm voice replied.

The boomerang user and gunner from before reappeared, flanking the man with bare fists, as if to support him, making things look bad again for Shirou until another pair stepped up from behind him to stand alongside the Primo. The figure of a man carrying a ceremonial dagger, and a woman with a crossbow. Both of them being silhouettes like the others, with mask-like flames over their eyes.

The Fifth and Eighth Bosses.

A silent debate seemed to go on in front of Shirou before the fist fighter, who must have been the Second Boss, vanished in a puff of flames, quickly followed by his two companions.

"_Even after all these years, you still haven't changed._" The calm voice said with a hint of something that might have been compassion before the First Boss also vanished.

"_Thank you for removing my seal. To have it be used in such a way brings me great shame._" Came a deep male voice before the Fifth Boss went up in flames.

"_Keep an eye on Natsumi for us._" Came a woman's voice as the Eighth Boss started to burn up as well. "_Oh, and tell 'Reborn' to give my son a good smack across the head for me._"

* * *

Shirou's eyes popped open and he gave a grown as he sat up in his seat in front of his workshop bench.

He must have fallen asleep while working on Natsumi's pendant, and now he had the imprint of the flower pendant on his face as he had used it as the world's most uncomfortable pillow.

It was the last weekend before summer break started, and Shirou only had ten days left before Illya's birthday. He wanted to get Illya, Natsumi and Taiga's pseudo-rings done in time so he could give them to all of them together, since he figured it would make Illya happier that way.

Taiga had surprised Shirou by asking that he make her pseudo-ring another little cartoon tiger head, like the tassel she had on her Tora-Shinai, before her grandfather decided to seal the weapon away for the sake of everyone's safety after what happened at the Kendo Tournament. Raiga had admitted that the shrine he had sealed the weapon inside was starting to leak a strange blood thirst and had asked Kiritsugu and Reborn if they had any ideas on how to deal with that.

He had already mostly finished them, with the only thing left to do being to enchant whatever outfits Illya, their mother, Sella and Leysritt, and Bianchi were working together to make, using Leon's threads. Once they were done, storing them in an astral form would be a snap. So in the meantime, he had been working on some extra things to put on them.

With the power generated by the Rainbow Fragments being so high, Shirou was trying to find things to do with the surplus energy. Though one thing was obvious. A storage for a fail safe healing array, the same kind of thing that Rin had once used to restore Shirou's heart after it was carved out by Lancer.

It would take the girls a few months to passively charge the array, but once they did, it would be a one time recovery in case anything went horribly wrong.

Part of Shirou wanted to blame the strange dream on his having been working on Natsumi's necklace when he went to sleep, but as he looked within his Unlimited Blade Works, he could see the weapons of seven of the eight bosses, exactly as they had been in the dream.

He was around 15% sure those hadn't been there before… Oh come on, cut him some slack, do you have any idea how many weapons there were in the Unlimited Blade Works? It might not literally be 'unlimited' but it was a LOT.

"...*Sigh* Coffee. I need coffee."

* * *

"I see you have finally decided to join me on the darkside." Reborn said cheerfully as he drank a cup of the extra strength black coffee that Shirou had brewed that morning.

"My old Master used to say that if there was a key to finding the Root, then it was probably coffee." Shirou said as he drank some himself.

"The Root?" Reborn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Plato's model of metaphysics. Go read it yourself, I'm too tired to explain." Shirou said.

Reborn gave a hum as he made a mental note to look into Greek Philosophy later. He already knew the basics of the Astral Forms described within it, but he wasn't too clear on the details.

"That's fine. I probably wouldn't have understood it anyways. All that magical theory and spiritualism stuff is really complicated." Taiga said as she took a mouthful of extremely fluffy and delicious pancakes, with homemade strawberry syrup.

Since Bianchi's arrival nearly two week back, she, Reborn and even Natsumi had been spending most nights with Taiga at her condo, before they all gathered at the Emiya residents for breakfast in the mornings and sticking around on the weekends. This was partly out of convenience, and partly because Bianchi was really insistent on learning how to cook better. Something that Reborn wouldn't complain about.

Bianchi had learned cooking from books and magazines, but without a sense of taste to guide her, she had been working with only theory, measurements and heart… And her heart often led her astray. Now that she could actually cook meals that had taste and realized that Shirou's food tasted a lot better than hers, she was insistent on learning from him.

Shirou had been reluctant at first, but Bianchi was nothing if not persistent, and had managed to recruit the other girls into her asking for cooking lessons. As a result, Shirou was giving them all a bonus home-ec class every more, because he simply couldn't say no to Illya.

It also came with lessons on cleaning up messes, as Natsumi and Taiga kept fumbling things.

Honestly, those girls.

"Are you alright, Onii-chan?" Illya asked.

Shirou smiled in response and just rolled his shoulders a bit. "You don't need to worry. After I get some food in me and take a short power nap, I'll be good as new."

"If you are planning on taking a nap, shouldn't you hold off on the coffee?" Natsumi said as Shirou once again reached for a refill.

"An unfortunate consequence of being an Active Sun Flame is that our bodies metabolize unwelcome substances hundreds of times faster than a normal person. Things like caffeine and alcohol, which are technically poisons, are burned through in a matter of minutes, instead of hours. It makes medicating us almost impossible, so we have to rely on people like Doctor Shamal, who provide alternative care methods." Reborn explained in Shirou's place. "Which is why you should probably take better care of your health. I'm sure Illya-chan would understand if her birthday present is a little late."

"Who was the one who suggested I make all this stuff in the first place?" Shirou deadpanned before sighing. "It's fine. I put the finishing touches on them last night."

"They are!?" Illya shouted, unable to control herself.

"Yes. I'm just waiting for the outfits you've made now." Shirou said with a slight smile at his sister's youthful behavior.

"Mama, can I show off the dress we made? Pretty please!?" Illya said, looking to Irisviel with sparkling red eyes.

"I don't see why not. Go ahead and change into it. I'm sure your papa would love to see it too." Irisviel said with a smile, getting a nod of agreement from Kiritsugu as well. Barely able to contain her excitement, Illya ran from the room to go and try on her new clothes.

"I still can't believe you convinced her that all of this stuff is about magical girls." Natsumi said with a sigh, after Illya was upstairs.

"It might as well be. While the magical girl shows tend to ignore the subject, that doesn't change the fact that they are violent vigilantes and are committing crimes." Reborn said as he sipped his coffee. "The only difference between them and the mafia is…"

"All the money laundering and illegal trade?" Taiga supplied, rolling her eyes.

"I was going to say the public image, but I suppose there is that too." Reborn said with a sigh. "Though I'd like to point out that a lot of 'legitimate' businesses do the exact same thing. Business ethics is an oxymoron."

Taiga was a good candidate for becoming the Rain Guardian, with her upbeat attitude and how she simply wanted to enjoy the world, but just like Natsumi, she had surprisingly strong opinions against joining the Mafia, despite having so many loved ones involved with it. Raiga wrote it off as a rebellious phase, but having her and Natsumi together was proving problematic for Reborn.

Then again, Reborn had already basically given up on Natsumi ever becoming the Vongola Famiglia's boss. After everything that had happened between her and it, Reborn doubted that he would be able to bring the girl around easily, even though he truly wished to see her turn the Famiglia around.

Still, even if Natsumi could avoid becoming the Vongola Boss, she couldn't avoid her inheritance. The Vongola Rings WOULD be hers. Even Reborn couldn't change that any more than he could change the fact that the sun will rise in the morning. Not unless another more viable heir presented themselves.

All talk of the mafia stopped as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "Ready!? Here I come!" Illya shouted from just outside the room before slipping around the corner with her arms spread wide to show off her new clothes. "Tada!"

It was a two piece white outfit with an added mantle. The outfit had a ice blue trim and golden crosses decorating it, as well as long red ribbons falling from her shoulders. Her legs were covered by white stockings that stopped just before the tops were covered by her skirt and her arms had similar white gloves that went up to just above the elbow.

On top of Illya's head was a golden crown that's bright color made her pale hair and skin shine all the more and contrast with her ruby eyes.

"You're SO cute!" Taiga squealed uncontrollably.

"It really is amazing… though you look more like an idol at some type of temple than a magical girl." Natsumi said, feeling as though the outfit was a little over the top.

"It really does have a holy feel to it, doesn't it?" Irisviel said, her eyes shining as she looked at her daughter from over a camera, Kiritsugu nodding his agreement with a solemn smile of his own.

"What do you think, Onii-chan?" Illya said with a big smile as she held the rim of her skirt… Only Shirou did not respond. "Onii-chan?"

They all looked to Shirou, his eyes wide in shock as he stared at Illya. The arm holding his cup of coffee had gone limp, causing him to pour its contents out onto the floor.

It was not exactly like the Dress of Heaven. The gold trim had been replaced with blue, the long flowing sleeves replaced with gloves, and the ring-like holes around the buttons that would expose the chest and stomach were missing as well, but Shirou's unprepared mind was sent hurling back at the sight of it.

She reminded him so much of his other sister in that dress, and it only became worse as her smile faded, replaced with a more solemn look of concern. "Are you alright, Onii-chan?"

"I..Illya?" Shirou stammered, dropping his now empty cup before taking a shaky step towards the little girl.

Illya was surprised and her brother grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. "Onii-chan, what's wrong?" She asked, his grib getting tighter all the will, until Illya couldn't take it anymore. "Onii-chan, you're hurting me!"

"Please Illya, please don't die." Shirou half sobbed as he maintained his death grip.

In a blur of movement, Kiritsugu and Reborn pulled Shirou's arms off of his sister before dragging him down to the ground. "Get a grip, Shirou." Reborn said, slapping the boy across the face with one hand as the other held the struggling boy to the ground.

"Let me go! I have to help her! I will save her this time! Illya! Nee-chan!" Shirou shouted, his body riving as he tried to pull himself free from the two stronger individuals.

"Sweetie, it's fine. Illya, is fine. Everything is fine." Irisviel said as she came over, placing her hands on his face and starting to blanket him in her soothing flames, only even his mother's calming aura wasn't enough this time.

"Let. Me. Go!" Shirou roared.

Reborn saw it first, the flickering of red and black flames from the pendant hidden underneath Shirou's shirt, and he immediately reacted, jumping up and pushing Kiritsugu and Irisviel away before the flames erupted outwards.

Shirou made to stand up, but Reborn used Leon to form a giant hand, crushing Shirou back down to the ground. The area where Leon's body touched Shirou started to turn from green to black. Then, to everyone's horror, blades started to grow straight out of the panicking boy's body, cutting into Leon. As this was happening, dark tattoo like marks once against started to spread across Shirou's body, as if the black flames hidden within him were raising to the surface.

"Nee-chan. Please don't die. Please hold on." Shirou continued to say, completely obvious to his surroundings as the entire room was in a panic. Kiritsugu and Irisviel had moved in front of the other children and were using their flames to protect them, while Leysritt and Sella tried to contain the damage from other angles.

They kept shouting to Shirou, trying to get through to him, but it wasn't working.

Finally, Reborn settled for a different solution. "Bianchi, poison cooking!"

Bianchi had already taken off her chains and charged a piece of pancake with a shocking amount of poisonous energy.

She tossed it towards Shirou, and it was caught by a green tendril growing out of the giant hand before being shoved into Shirou's open mouth as he tried to call out to his sister again.

The effects were strong, as the boy's struggling stopped almost instantly, his flames died down and his eyes rolled back into his head.

As his body went limp, Reborn allowed Leon to shrink back down, the shapeshifter looking very ill from the prolonged exposure to Shirou's flames. "You did well. Take a rest." Reborn said, as he fetched a treat for his partner, while Irisviel rushed to her son. The blades had disappeared, but left large bleeding wounds in the holes left behind. Taiga and Natsumi were trying to comfort a crying Illya, the tiny girl shaken and apologizing, Natsumi's flames slowly helping Illya to regain her self-control.

The peaceful morning had become utter chaos, and not the kind of chaos that Reborn liked. Even so, he had to find a way to make the best of it.

* * *

**To everyone this concerns, 'Go fuck yourself'. You know if it concerns you and you know why. If it doesn't concern you, ignore the message.**


	25. Chapter 25

"Maybe giving him those Rainbow Fragments wasn't one of my brightest ideas." Reborn said as he held up Shirou's pendant, knowing that the damage to Leon would have been much less if Shirou hadn't been wearing it. It was nearly at the level of a Vongola Ring, before it accepted its Guardian.

After knocking him unconscious with poison cooking, Irisviel immediately got to work on healing Shirou's injuries… which healed abnormally fast even by the standards of active Sun Flames. Shirou's recovery time nearly matched Reborn's own, while the boy was unconscious.

After he was healed, they stripped him of his amplifier and placed Bianchi's flame limiting chains on him, for safety. Irisviel stuck with the boy after they took him to his room, both to blanket him in calming Sky Flames and to keep an eye on him.

"It's been a while since the last time I saw this happen." Reborn said, as his beloved partner was puking up black goo, trying to cleanse himself after the exposure to the unnerving flames which negated his healing abilities.

"You know what happened to my Onii-chan?" Illya said through her sniffles as she sat wrapped in Natsumi's arms, Kiritsugu sitting close beside them to hold her hand. "Do you know how to break the spell?"

"It isn't a spell. It is a completely mundane condition that isn't even particularly rare. Post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. Something happened to Shirou-kun that left a lasting scar on his psyche and something triggered him, causing him to fall into an irrational mental rut where he perceived danger all around him." Reborn said. "It's something you used to hear about it all the time, around a decade back. Old soldiers back from the war having panic attacks and hurting their families while trying to protect them from enemies that don't exist. Only, with Shirou-kun's powers, the results were a bit more extreme."

"This is all my fault." Illya whimpered, using her free hand to wipe away tears. Leon's flameproof and waterproof threads caused the tears to just roll off of the white gloved arm, rather than being absorbed. "I just thought… Seeing myself in that dress… It was so pretty and… It just felt right. I didn't think that... I wouldn't have done it if…"

"Illya, where did you get the design for the dress from?" Kiritsugu asked his daughter, his voice unchanged from its usual, but still causing Illya to shrink in on herself.

"I… based it off of something I saw in the vision when Onii-chan woke up my powers. I saw myself wearing a beautiful dress so I thought… I thought that it was supposed to be my Magic Girl costume." Illya admitted. "And now because of me, Onii-chan is…"

"Beating yourself up is pointless. Everyone makes mistakes, that is how you learn." Reborn said with a shake of his head. "The things you saw during the Soul Dive were things that are a part of Shirou's soul, his memories. And he called Illya 'Nee-chan' just now. Another clue about his mysterious past life."

"Past life?" Taiga said, blinking in confusion.

"Reborn." Kiritsugu said in a warning tone.

"Them knowing won't hurt him, and it will save him from having to tell them himself. Or do you think he will be able to explain things to them? The after effects of a panic attack for someone with PTSD last for weeks. Even with Sky Flames to help bring him back down, it is going to be a while before he is himself again. For everyone's safety, I suggest he skip the last few days of school before the Summer break." Reborn said, meeting Kiritsugu's gaze.

The two of them stared at each other for a few moments before Kiritsugu sighed. "I'll tell them."

"Papa?" Illya said uncomfortably. "If Onii-chan doesn't want me to know…"

"It isn't that he doesn't want you to know, he's just… frightened. And Reborn is right, you knowing might do his heart some good." Kiritsugu said with a shake of the head. "Nine years ago, I found Shirou inside of what I can only describe as an evil laboratory, that I had been sent to destroy, and as a result of the experiment performed on him, he gained memory from an older version of himself, from a parallel timeline."

Reborn kept his poker face as all of the girls went into varying levels of disbelief at what they had just been told. Kiritsugu hadn't told him about any new developments.

"Due to his trauma, Shirou hasn't been able to tell us much, but from what he has told us, we know that it is a very distant other timeline, separated by more than just a few decisions. In it, Shirou was Illya's younger brother, rather than the older one." Kiritsugu told them.

"Younger!?" Illya said, her shock cutting through her earlier panic.

"Wait, so the reason he kept calling me Fuji-nee is because he knew me from another timeline too?" Taiga asked, equally distracted from the main point.

"He said that you and your grandfather took guardianship of him after I died from a curse."

"WHAT!?" Illya cried out. "You died!? ...But… But what about Mama, and Leysritt-nee and Sella-nee!?"

"Your mother died and her grandfather took you away from me before I adopted Shirou. According to Shirou, I was suffering from a powerful curse, and didn't have the strength to fight for you. I wasn't told what happened to Leysritt or Sella." Kiritsugu said.

"No way." Illya said, disheartened by the bleak depiction of her other self's family situation. She remembered the other Illya crying, saying that she missed Leysritt and Sella, and tears came to her own eyes.

She looked up as Leysritt started to ruffle her hair, and the woman gave her a sideways smirk. "Don't let it get to you squirt. Even if some bad things happened there and then, that doesn't change the here and now. You and Shirou have a great family life, even if your mom and dad are a little weird."

"Excuse me, how am I the weird one? You're the one who thinks that everything in life is just a TV sitcom." Irisviel said, giving them a pout as she looked down on them from the top of the stairs. Kiritsugu noticed that his wife didn't try to deny that HE was weird.

"I will stop believing that once the world proves me wrong!" Leysritt shouted back, managing to get a small giggle out of Illya as she rubbed her eyes.

"Mama, is Onii-chan alright?" Illya asked.

"He's awake and back in his right mind." Irisviel told them. "He wanted to come down here to apologies, but I told him to stay in bed."

"Can I see him?" Illya asked, worried that her mother would say no.

"I can't imagine him getting any proper rest until you do, but you need to change your clothes first. Even if he is more mentally prepared for it now, we don't want to risk a repeat incident." Irisviel said with a solemn smile.

"Ah… right." Illya said, her hands gripping onto the rim of her skirt.

"In the meantime, Natsumi-chan can help calm him down." Reborn put forward out of nowhere.

"Huh, me!?" Natsumi cried out at being volunteered.

"Of course. You're his boss, and your Sky Flames are of a higher purity than Iris-chan's. It is your responsibility to help him overcome this." Reborn said before tilting his head. "Or do you not want to help him?"

"It… it isn't that I don't want to help him… but…" Natsumi shrank a little. "I don't know how I could..."

"I don't want to hear your excuses." Reborn said in his scolding tone of voice. "The worst thing that can happen is that you fail, but if you don't try, then you are never going to succeed."

Natsumi didn't respond. She wanted to be there for Shirou, the way he had been for her, but at the same time, she didn't know what to do to help him. The longer she'd been around Reborn, and the more one-on-one talks she had with Aunt Iris, the more she understood that she had simply become used to failure. Just about everyone she had seen on a day to day basis had worked to drill into her mind that everything she tried to do would go wrong, and that she was better off simply not trying at all.

She was coming to understand that this mindset was wrong. Irisviel had been trying to coach her in telling herself that she could do it… but it was hard.

With a conflict placed right in front of her, Natsumi froze up, her body revolting against the idea of trying, telling her that she should just run away.

She gave a reflexive flinch when she felt Taiga's hand on her shoulder. "I'll head up there with you. Maybe if we are lucky, one of us will think of something we can say to cheer him up a bit." Taiga said, giving Natsumi an encouraging smile.

"Y...yeah." Natsumi said, grateful that Taiga was there to support her.

"Bianchi and I will be there with you. Just incase of an emergency." Reborn said, Bianchi nodding her agreement as she picked Reborn up and held him in her arms. "Let's go."

* * *

Guilt pressed down on Shirou as he stared up from his bed at the ceiling fan above him.

He had completely lost his self-control, and worse, hurt Illya because of it. Even if their mother tried to shelter him from the facts, he still had some memory of what had been happening around him, even if it was a confused mess, a blur of past and present.

'...you're hurting me!'

Illya's cry for him to stop had only dragged him further down, as he remembered the girl's cries as she experienced pain beyond even that that Shirou himself had endured over his lifetime.

Illya's cries for it all to end echoed in Shirou's ears and a shiver ran down his spine, his breathing becoming less and less steady. His mind was once against falling into the downwards spiral, unable to escape his haunting past, when there was a knock on the door.

Shirou's head snapped up and he noticed his own labored breaths. Taking a moment to correct himself and steady his breathing, he called out to the people outside. "Come on."

If he had been in his right mind, he would have been able to tell who it was before the door even opened. As it was, he was left surprised as Natsumi and Taiga poked their heads in, followed by Reborn and Bianchi. "Hey Shirou-senpai, how are you feeling?" Natsumi asked, her face portraying her concern, as well as how uncomfortable she was. Taiga had almost an identical expression on her own face.

Shirou couldn't exactly blame them. His new shirt was stained in the blood that still coated his upper body.

"I feel well enough to run a marathon, though I still am powerless before my mother's orders to stay in bed." Shirou said, trying to make light of the situation, though his body was tense. It was a struggle just to stay still. While he managed to keep a mostly normal expression, his jaw was clenched as tight as a vice. "How is everyone?"

"Everyone else is fine. You were the one who grew swords out of your body." Taiga said with a bit of a sigh, seeing that Shirou really did seem to be alright. "You gave all of us a heart attack."

"Yeah… sorry about that." Shirou said weakly.

"Um, Shirou… I know it might be… um…" Natsumi stammered, trying to find her words. "Reborn told me that Sky Flames are supposed to help with trauma so… If it is alright with you, I could… you know."

Shirou bit the inside of his lip before nodding his head. "It would be much appreciated."

Natsumi went and sat in the chair that Irisviel had left next to Shirou's bedside and reached out, placing one of her hands on his before taking a deep breath and imagining the spinning top.

The warm, calming feeling of the Sky Flames spread over Shirou, and Natsumi could feel some of the tension leaving the boy's body… some of it. Now with her senses sharpened by the Dying Will Flames, she could practically see the twisted knot inside of Shirou.

"Thank you." Shirou said softly, seeming to understand that he wasn't able to hide his inner turmoil from the girl anymore.

"I'm sorry I can't do any more than this." Natsumi said, her voice cool and steady.

"Don't apologize. It really does help." Shirou said, letting his head sink a little.

"I don't mean to agitate you further, but you should know that, at my suggestion, Kiri-kun spilled the beans about your memories from a parallel world." Reborn said, his voice more monotone than usual, as if trying to express sympathy.

A ripple moved through Shirou's entire body, which even when played down looked as though he had been punched in the gut.

"I… I see. Then… you all know." Shirou said, his voice seeming almost hollow. He glanced towards Natsumi and Taiga before his eyes shifted away. But in those solitary moments, Natsumi had seen something in those eyes that she had never seen before; fear.

It confused her for a moment, as she wondered why Shirou would be so afraid of them knowing about this past. Then, it slowly dawned on her.

Natsumi raised up her free hand, and to everyone's surprise, she flicked Shirou on the forehead. "'You've always been one to worry over silly things.'" She said, her voice still holding that calm, honey like quality from her Dying Will Mode, as Shirou looked up at her in surprise. "That's what you told me, remember. When you found me after I locked myself in the janitors closet. When I confessed to having hid all of my troubles from you all out of fear that you would find out that I was 'No-Good'. When I was afraid that you would all reject me." Natsumi stared into Shirou's soul with her piercing orange eyes, seeing the scarred landscape, but not flinching away. "I won't pretend that I understand everything that is going on. I'll even admit that we were shocked to find out the truth. But we are all family, and nothing is going to change that."

Shirou was too stunned to respond, and soon Taiga joined in, clasping her hands over the one that Natsumi had on top of Shirou's. "That's right. I might not ever understand anything, but that doesn't change that we're family." She said with an energetic smile.

A grateful smile spread over Shirou's face as he gave a weak chuckle. Not trusting himself to speak.

Reborn watched it all with an amused smile, proud of his student.

"Onii-chan?" Shirou's eyes went to the door to see his little sister, back to being dressed in casual clothes. She was looking up at him with her already red eyes slightly bloodshot, clutching the door as if she was afraid to enter the room.

"Illya?" Shirou said, his mouth feeling dry. Seeing the fear in his little sister's eyes cut him down to his core. His mind started to shut down as he feared the worst.

Not only had he freaked out and hurt her, she now knew his secret. She knew that he wasn't what he appeared to be. The small, nagging fear that had spread its roots inside of Shirou's heart and had grown over the years was now running wild inside of him, screaming all the things he had always feared into his ears.

'She hates you.'

Fear and self-loathing ran rampant inside of Shirou's mind and hurt until Illya started to cry. "Onii-chan!" She shouted, running forward and jumping onto Shirou's bed, landing right on top of him before starting to cry into his chest. She didn't seem to care about the still wet blood that was getting soaked into her white hair from his shirt. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You told me it was bad and I didn't listen. Please don't hate me, Onii-chan."

Shirou was stunned for a moment, before his big brother instincts started to kick in and he began to try desperately to comfort his crying little sister. "Illya, please don't cry. It wasn't your fault." Shirou said, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"But, Onii-chan was so badly hurt, and it was because I didn't listen." Illya cried, not wanting to let go of him, making his attempts to stop her from getting more blood on her difficult.

"I wasn't that badly hurt, and it wasn't your fault." Shirou said, giving up on stopping Illya and simply starting to pat the girl's head. "I was the one who miscalculated. I should have known that the Soul Dive would have shown you those memories. ...I haven't told you anything about what it was you saw. It is only natural you didn't understand. ...I haven't told anyone much."

He looked up and saw the rest of his family standing in the doorway, non judgemental looks of concern on their faces. Shirou took a deep breath and leaned back. Trying to collect himself and get his rampaging emotions under wraps so that he could try to explain.

"The Dress of Heaven." Shirou said softly.

"Huh?" Illya said, looking up at her brother.

"That dress you saw. It was called the Dress of Heaven. It was a Mystic Code created by the Einzberns, an old Magus Family, in order to control something called the Holy Grail, an artifact so powerful that it could grant any wish as well as bring the key to bring the dead back to life and achieve everlasting life." Shirou said solemnly, as his eyes focused on nothing in particular.

"Hold on, what?" Sella said in shock. "Does something like that really exist?"

"In this timeline? I don't think so. And good riddance." Shirou said roughly, surprising his sister.

"I take it that the grail was the center of several conflicts." Reborn said.

"The Holy Grail Wars. There were five of them in total, with a Grail War being considered tame if only a few hundred people died. The fifth and final Grail War nearly wiped out all of humanity." Shirou said, getting gasps out of the three younger girls. "Some time during the third Grail War, the Holy Grail became corrupted by a spirit born from humanities legends of Angra Mainyu, the Persian God of Darkness, which turned the Grail into something that's sole desire was to kill as many humans as possible.

"Any wish made upon it would be twisted into something that would bring about death and destruction. If you wished to be the most beautiful person in the world, it would have maimed the faces of everyone else in the entire world. If you wished for an end to war, it would kill everyone, thus ensuring that war could never occur again.

"After finding out that the Grail had become corrupted, those of us who had been dragged into the fifth Grail War form a plan around using the Dress of Heaven as a tool in order to let us destroy the corrupted Grail."

"Wow. So the other me used that dress to save the entire world?" Illya said, wide eyed. To her it had sounded like something out of one of her TV shows, like the other Illya had been a real Magical GIrl, even while everyone else seemed to understand that when Shirou said 'wipe out all of humanity' he was serious. "The Dress of Heaven. It sounds amazing."

"...Amazing huh." Shirou said, with a bit of a pained expression. "I often wondered how she could stomach wearing that thing, knowing what it was made out of."

"What it was made of?" Illya asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"That's…" Shirou looked at his sister's confused face and shook his head. "Sorry, but you're better off not knowing."

"You know Shirou-kun… when you just leave us hanging like that, it makes me feel really uneasy." Taiga said with a weak laugh. "You make it sound like the thing was made out of people or something."

...Shirou didn't reply, he just looked away from them, up towards the doorway.

"...Onii-chan?" Illya said as she looked up at her brother, noticing that his eyes didn't seem unfocused. He wasn't just looking off into the distance, he was definitely looking at something. Following his eyes, Illya saw that he was staring at Sella and Leysritt.

The pieces slid into place and Illya was overcome with a horrible realization. The memory of her other self at the zoo, tears in her eyes.

'I miss them, Onii-chan.'

"Sella-nee and Leysritt-nee, they… they…" She looked up at her brother, hoping he would deny it, but his face was pained as well. Illya couldn't help it. She just started to cry. She grabbed onto his shirt, and cried into her brother's arms. "I don't want it. I don't want that dress anymore."

As she cried, her brother put his arms around her. "I'm sorry." He said as he patted her back. "I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry."

The others were shocked by Illya's revelation, but soon Iris and Kiri came forward, along with Sella and Leysritt, putting their arms around the child, as Illya cried her heart out.

"I will never allow anything like that to happen. I promise." Shirou whispered to his little sister, as she slowly started to regain her self-control.

"Thank you, Onii-chan."


	26. Chapter 26

After Shirou's mental breakdown and his confession, life just awkwardly continued on, basically unchanged.

Illya was a little shaken up by the idea of a world where nearly everyone she loved died, but it wasn't long before she was back to her cheerful self, after vowing to be strong enough to protect her family as well.

That vow didn't exactly get very far. Pure hearted, talented and determined as she was, she was still a girl who was only just about to turn nine years old, and didn't exactly have the attention span for something like training. It had actually been kind of adorable in a way, seeing her give up after ten minutes of strength training left her with sore arms. Their mother's squeals probably had a good deal to do with her embarrassment to continue.

She did however wear her little workout uniform one more time, as she thought it was cute.

Natsumi on the other hand was a little more dedicated to her new morning exercise regiment, if only because Reborn wouldn't let her back out.

"I… I don't think I can run any more." Natsumi panted, her knees starting to wobble.

"Is this really the best you can do? Ryohei already left you behind a half a mile back." Reborn said, as he looked down at Natsumi from on top of the brick wall fence.

He wasn't really upset with her. A mile run for someone in her condition was pretty good, since she was purposely not using her Dying Will to make it easier.

"If you've had enough, that's fine. We can just cut things short and walk the rest of the way home." Shirou said gently.

Natsumi looked up at him and Taiga, seeing that them breaking a little heavily made her feel a bit better about how she felt like she was going to die.

They had started doing these morning jogs a week ago, and Natsumi was a little frustrated with her seeming lack of progress in her endurance, but with Shirou and Taiga's encouragement, she was trying to stick with it.

Gokudera had tried running with them at first, but stopped after the first day. As it turned out, smoking three packs a day made doing basic cardio exercises really hard, and after wheezing his lungs out, Gokudera slunk away in shame.

Natsumi was surprised to find out from Reborn that Gokudera actually didn't give up completely, and was just too embarrassed to be seen in that state. He had started to do morning walks on a different route and was even trying to cut back on his smoking habit. It was something that made him increasingly irritable with others, as he started to go through tobacco withdraw.

Natsumi gave the boy a few words of encouragement herself when she saw him on the last day of school, which seemed to cheer him up.

She hoped that Gokudera might be able to give up smoking all together. It really wasn't healthy for a twelve year old to be smoking three packs a day. Though as she thought about it, it really made her question where he got the money for such an expensive habit. All those bombs probably weren't cheap either. He was supposed to have ran away from home, and he doesn't have a job, so where did the money come from?

Natsumi was pretty sure she didn't want to know.

"Two more blocks. I'll jog for two more blocks." Natsumi said, trying to sound determined.

"That's the spirit." Taiga said with a grin as Natsumi looked over to her, only for her eyes to be distracted by something else.

"Um… are you two seeing this?" She said as she pointed in the direction that they were going.

A girl who looked like she was the same age that Natsumi was, with dark hair tied up in a ponytail was walking along the top of the brick fence, the same way Reborn was. Her arms were held out for balance and she didn't exactly seem steady as she approached them, stopping as she reached Reborn.

"H...Hello." She stammered as she tried to do some kind of curtsy while at the same time keeping her balance. With her embarrassed blush and the middle school uniform she was wearing, even though school was out, Natsumi thought she was kind of cute. Though as she was wearing a rather short summer skirt and standing up on the four foot tall wall, they were being given more than a little peek at her panties, even before she tried to curtsy.

Shirou casually averted his gaze, choosing not to draw attention to this face, but Reborn didn't seem bothered at all.

"Ciaossu." Reborn replied to the girl, as if this wasn't strange at all.

"My name… is Miura Haru." The girl said as a stammered form of introduction.

"I know. You live in that house over there." Reborn said, pointing to one of the nearby houses. This response seemed to please the girl greatly.

"Would… would you be my friend?" Haru asked the baby hitman.

"Sure." Reborn replied, as casual as ever. Natsumi had the feeling that he found this all very amusing.

The rest of them weren't nearly as amused as him as the girl's body suddenly went stiff as she began to fall to the side. They were panicking, each once drawing on their flames in order to rush to save her, but before they made it more than a step, Haru had somehow managed to do a complete 360 degree spin before landing on her feet in a manner that would leave cats gocking in disbelief. She then threw up her arms and gave a squeal of victory.

'Another crazy one.' Natsumi couldn't help but to think as Haru started to do something like a victory dance in front of them. She wondered if the weird girl also had something to do with the mafia, like Bianchi and Gokudera, and that this was more of the idol worship towards Reborn that she had seen from those two.

But this didn't really seem to be the case this time.

"Erm, uhm, I know it is rather sudden but…" Haru started to stammer, squirming around like a schoolgirl about to confess to her crush. "Can I hug you?"

Reborn paused, and Natsumi thought she could see the direction that the hitman's thoughts were going, beginning with Haru hugging him and ending with him having to bury another victim of poison cooking. "You shouldn't touch me so casually." Reborn said, before the girl could even notice the pause in his behavior. Leon then transformed into his gun form. "After all, I'm a hitman."

Natsumi didn't bother to get involved in this. She figured anything Reborn did to drive the girl away would simply work out.

She didn't expect Haru's eyes to widen before she turned and took a swing at… Shirou? "You delinquent bastard! How could you give him a baby a gun of all things!?" Haru growled as she struggled to free her fist from grip. Shirou didn't seem at all concerned about the fact that she had just tried to punch him in the face, only giving a slight sigh of irritation. This prompted the girl to take another swing at him, no more effective than the first. "Don't you sigh about it! Babies are angels with pure white hearts! Are you trying to destroy that lovely pureness with your rotten heart!?"

"Would you please stop that." Shirou asked nicely, as she started to try to kick him between the legs.

"Hey now, don't go jumping to conclusions." Taiga said, grabbing onto the girl's shoulders and trying to pull her back. "Shirou-kun hasn't done anything wrong."

"That's right. Shirou-senpai didn't give Reborn a gun." Natsumi said, trying to get between Shirou and the crazy girl after Shirou let go of her hands. "It's just a toy."

"Even a toy is bad!? That guy is Reborn-chan's big brother, isn't he!? Haru sees them around each other all the time!" The girl shouted, referring to herself in the third person, as if she was a three-year-old.

"We aren't brothers." Shirou said sharply, as if offended.

"Then you are an even bigger bastard! Making someone else's baby into a Devil!" Haru shouted.

"That thing was a Devil long before I met him." Shirou said, getting a snort of amusement out of Reborn himself.

"What did you say!?"

"Please, calm down." Natsumi said, trying to wave the girl down.

"Listen here you! You shall not be seeing Reborn-chan anymore!" Haru said, shaking a finger at Shirou.

"Sorry, but that's not possible." Reborn said from his perch on the wall. "After all, I have to get Shirou-kun to accept his place in the Mafia. I can't let him go before that."

"THE MAFIA!?" Haru almost shrieked, giving Shirou a death glare. "That is too far! Even for a delinquent's idea of fun! You're even restricting his freedom!"

"Restricting his freedom?" Taiga said, giving the girl a look as she tried to figure out where she got that one from.

"Tch. Haru swears that she will put a stop to you and protect Reborn-chan's purity!" Haru declared, before turning to Reborn himself, her face turning as innocent as a baby's. "I'll see you later than."

...And with that she left.

"...What just happened?" Taiga asked.

"I have no idea." Natsumi replied, before the both of them gave tired sighs.

"Hm, if we don't start heading home, breakfast will be late." Shirou said, looking in the direction of his house.

"How can you be so calm about this? Because of a weird misunderstanding, that girl absolutely hates you." Taiga said, confused by Shirou's casual behavior about it all.

"Why should I care?" Shirou replied with a shrug. "I'm not going to live my life worrying about what random strangers think of me. If she wants to hate me, that's fine. She's harmless, so I don't really care."

"...I can't tell if that is a really mature attitude or a really immature one." Natsumi said, trying to think over what Shirou had just said.

"More importantly, what would you like to make for breakfast?"

* * *

Miura Haru was not one who knew the meaning of the words 'give up', and she was determined to rescue the sweet baby Reborn so that she could give him all the hugs she wanted.

She had first seen Reborn a week prior and had been watching him every morning, waiting for the perfect moment to introduce herself, and during that time, she had managed to find out the place where they always went after their morning walks.

So after changing into a black jumper and tying a piece of cloth over her head to help her sneak around, she headed over to the house in question, ready to perform her rescue operation.

"Alright Haru, this is the moment. No time for getting stiff feet." Haru said to herself, trying to prep herself up as she stood at the end of the driveway, staring up at the door. "...Why can't Haru move forward?" She whimpered to herself after just standing there for two minutes doing nothing but work up a sweat in the early summer sun.

"Hello, can we help you?" A woman's voice came from behind Haru, causing the girl to jump and turn around. She had been so focused on the door, she hadn't noticed when a car pulled up in front of the house.

"I… Um..." Haru stammered, trying to think of what to say as a pair of adults stepped out of the car. One was a handsome Japanese man in his forties with jet black hair and eyes and tanned skin, while the other was a beautiful foriegn woman with pale skin, snow white haired and ruby red eyes. Haru's heart jumped as she was sure that these two must be Reborn's parents.

Haru didn't know what to say to them, but before she could think of anything, the woman smiled. "You must be one of Natsumi-chan's friends, coming over for that study group that Reborn was talking about. I'm Emiya Irisviel, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"H...Haru is Haru." Haru stammered back.

"Dear me, there is no need to be shy." Irisviel giggled at Haru's nervous behavior. "We were just getting back from a trip to get some snacks for everyone. Would you mind helping us carry everything in?"

"No, Haru would be happy to help!" Haru said, smiled back at the friendly woman.

Getting into the house was easier than she had thought.

* * *

"I can't believe that I am having to tutor you in English." Shirou said with a shake of his head as he was sat down with Taiga, going over her Summer homework in English, which appeared to be a reading assignment over a few old short stories.

"Don't make fun of me, I know I'm no good at English." Taiga pouted.

"Actually, I'm saying that because in my old timeline, you were my high school English teacher." Shirou said with a chuckle.

"What!? No way!" Taiga said, her eyes wide. "Me, an English teacher?"

"You once told us that you met a translator as a kid and that he inspired you to teach people English." Shirou replied with a shrug.

"An English teacher, huh?" Taiga mumbled. "But I always wanted to be a detective."

Hearing Taiga's confession, Natsumi nearly choked, thinking about what Raiga would say if the Yakuza boss heard that his granddaughter wanted to be a detective.

"Natsumi, try to pay closer attention." Reborn scolded her from his position in Bianchi's lap. "We've got a long way to go if you want to catch up to the rest of your peers before your school resumes."

"Uh, yes. I know." Natsumi apologized, bowing her head to her 'baby' tutor.

"Good, now how about we try tackling the next question. What is the difference between DNA and RNA?" Reborn started to give his lesson on basic cellular biology while Natsumi and Illya listened and took notes.

Natsumi had never been too interested in school, mostly because her constant string of failures had left her dispirited, but the idea of rising up and showing everyone that she could succeed made her want to give it her best. The encouragement she got from the Emiyas and Taiga also helped.

Natsumi had just barely managed to pass her final semester exams and avoid summer classes, but that was already a huge improvement. She wanted to improve more, and finally get her mama to stop calling her 'No-Good' once and for all. For such a goal, Natsumi was willing to work hard.

So Natsumi was going to concentrate as hard as she needed to… until the door to the room opened and Haru walked in, dressed like a cat burglar and holding a plate of snacks.

"Hey everyone. I hope you're all having fun studying." Irisviel said from behind Haru, as she carried in a stack of cups and a jug of milk.

"What's she doing here?" Taiga asked in surprise.

"Fufufu, Haru has come to make sure that the evil hearted one isn't being a bad influence on Reborn-chan and stop him from involving Reborn in any more of these Mafia games!" Haru said proudly, getting a giggle out of Iris.

"I saw her by the driveway, so I invited her in." Irisviel openly admitted.

"Mom, we've had this discussion before. Don't invite strange people into the house." Shirou said with a sigh.

"Oh, but I thought she was one of you and Natsumi's little friends." Irisviel said, trying to act innocent. She wasn't very convincing.

Honestly, Iris was nearly as big of a trouble maker as Reborn. Just more subtle about it.

"Mafia games?" Illya asked, confused by Haru's earlier declaration.

"I told her that I was a hitman." Reborn told Illya.

"Reborn…" Natsumi said, giving the hitman a look, since they weren't supposed to say things like that in front of Illya.

"It's my cover story, since I can't exactly tell people I'm a fairy." Reborn finished, not minding Natsumi's looks.

"A hitman?" Illya repeated with a tilt of her head. "No offense Reborn-san, but that cover is kind of stupid. If you are going to lie, you should at least make it something believable."

Natsumi could only laugh at the irony.

Though Illya's words drew the attention of Haru to her. "Oh, you're so cute!" Haru squealed before walking up to Illya and bowing. "Hello, my name is Miura Haru, would you please be my friend."

"Ah." Illya said as she quickly scrambled to get to her feet and give her customary curtsy. "I'm Emiya Illyasviel, and it would be a pleasure." Illya replied with a dazzling smile.

"That was so adorable!" Haru cued, before suddenly pulling Illya into a hug, startling the young girl.

"Well, you kids have fun now, and if you need something, don't hesitate to ask." Iris said before dismissing herself from the room.

"As fun as this aside is, we are still in the middle of a lesson. If Miura-san would like to join us, that is fine, but I am going to start continuing now." Reborn said, drawing Natsumi's attention back.

"Lesson?" Haru asked, confused.

"That's right, I am Natsumi-chan and Illya-chan's home tutor, after all." Reborn said with a slight smile.

"Oh, that's so cute. Haru would love to play student for you." Haru giggled as she sat down next to Natsumi. Moments later, the girl was shocked when Reborn continued his lecture on cellular biology.

Sometimes kids say the darndest things.

* * *

"Bye bye! See you on Saturday!" Haru shouted as she left the Emiya residence hours later, humming happily to herself.

After staying with them through the morning and joining them for dinner, Illya had invited the girl to her birthday party, not seeming to notice the levels of animosity the girl had for her beloved older brother.

Shirou continued to not really mind the completely unjustified hate being directed towards him, as it all just seemed to slide right off of him, like water off duck feathers.

"Are you sure you don't mind it?" Natsumi asked Shirou after Haru had left.

"It's fine. The girl is harmless enough." Shirou replied with a shrug. "It isn't as though she is a bad person. She just jumps to conclusions too quickly."

"I guess you're right." Natsumi admitted. Haru had been more than friendly to everyone but Shirou, and had happily joined in with their little study session. "I'm kind of surprised by how smart she was, considering her scatterbrained behavior from before."

"Haru-chan goes to a rather prestigious all girls school in the area." Reborn informed them as he invited himself into the conversation.

"Huh, she does?" Natsumi asked.

"That's right. She really is an interesting character." Reborn said cheerfully. "I've had my eye on her for a little while, since she has a bit of potential for becoming a 'magical girl'."

"What!? Haru-chan, really!?" Illya said, picking up on the words 'magical girl'.

"So, you noticed too." Shirou said with a small nod of his head.

"I spotted her a few days ago, when she started to spy on us during the morning jogs." Reborn admitted. "The fact that she paid any attention to me at all showed that she was at least somewhat resistant to the effects of my enchanted clothes. A sure sign that she has talent."

"I basically reached the same conclusion when she freaked out over your gun." Shirou said in agreement.

"...You know, I should be more surprised than I am." Natsumi said with a sigh. "I guess I'm just learning to accept that every weird person I come across is somehow related to all this."

So far, the only normal person Natsumi had met who had any kind of flame potential was Taiga, and even then, she was only arguably normal just by comparison. Even the Emiyas all had their weird quirks.

And after everything was said and done, Natsumi didn't hate Haru. She was a nice, friendly girl. She just hoped that Shirou would try a bit harder to make Haru understand that he wasn't a bad person, rather than trying to ignore her existence.

Honestly, why was he acting so childish?

* * *

That night, Natsumi had a horrible nightmare.

She watched as what looked like an older version of Ryohei, with his white hair and silver eyes, was led up to the gallows as a crowd of people screamed horrible things at him.

He didn't even fight back or drag his feet. He just walked with a look on his face as if he was already dead, the hate coming from the crowd washing over him in waves.

That sea of hate was the last thing that he would ever see in that world.

'This… This is what I sacrificed everything to protect.'


	27. Chapter 27

"This is so unfair, why does my costume have to have cat ears?" Taiga said as she fiddled with the aforementioned cat ears as they walked towards Natsumi's house, where they would pick up her mother before heading to the Emiya residence for Illya's birthday party. The pair already had their presents in hand and were all dressed up for the occasion.

"I think it looks really good on you. It brings the whole tiger motif together." Natsumi said as she looked over Taiga's outfit.

In order so that she could wear her long awaited Magical Girl uniform throughout her birthday, Illya's birthday party had been made a costume party, and Natsumi and Taiga were told to wear their outfits as well.

After the 'Dress of Heaven' disaster, Illya's outfit had to be redesigned, and Irisviel thought it would be adorable for the three girls to all have color coordinated, matching outfits. So they all received bright outfits consisting of the kind of things one usually associates with magical girls, with only minor differences.

Illya's outfit had a white cape over her bright pink dress and feather-like hair ties in her hair, while Natsumi had a sleeveless white jacket with a slightly frilly collar over her bright orange dress, a roaring lion stitched onto its back.

It was a little embarrassing, but Natsumi actually kind of liked the outfit. It was more comfortable than the kinds of costumes you buy at the store and despite being bright orange, wasn't all that flashy. She even thought she looked kind of cool in it.

But Taiga wasn't as happy with her own.

Hers was a sky blue color, to match with her Rain Flames, only with black tiger stripes on her skirt and on her gloves. Much like Natsumi, she had a sleeveless jacket, only with hers featuring a tiger instead of a lion. Over her shoulder was a sword in a blue tiger striped sheathed that Shirou had provided her with, the sheath being enchanted so that no one found it weird for her to have it. But if it was only that, she would have probably been fine with it. It was the fact that the outfit turned her hair blue with stripes and gave her cat ears that left her annoyed.

"I can't believe Grandpa would ask Aunt Iris to make something like this." Taiga grumbled before sighed. "Actually, I can believe it. That just makes it worse."

"The two of you look good in them." Bianchi said with one of her soft smiles, as she walked along beside them dressed up as what could only be described as a 'sexy witch', with her black dress that hugged her hips and a pointed witch's hat.

"And it also is good protection." Reborn added, his head resting in the revealed cleavage of Bianchi's low cut collar as she carried him along. Reborn had decided to go as a black cat, to fit with Bianchi's costume… or he had been for the last four blocks. Honestly, his outfit had changed three times that morning alone, and neither Natsumi or Taiga knew exactly when the changes took place. It seems as though they didn't need to more than look away from Reborn for a second for him to be something completely different. "Leon's threads are naturally pretty tough, and Shirou-kun's magic only made them tougher. They could take an anti-tank round without breaking."

That was actually a gross understatement.

Leon's threads were one of the highest quality materials in the world, standing out even among other magical beings. As such, Reborn's clothes could take a normal anti-tank round shot at point blank range. But the stuff Shirou had created with his enchantments… it was at a completely different level. Even Reborn's bullets would have a hard time piercing it.

It reminded Reborn of the cape of Vongola Primo.

Reborn had no way of knowing that Shirou HAD used the cape of Vongola Primo as a reference when making them.

"What exactly doesn't Shirou think we are going to be doing in these things?" Taiga asked with a sigh. "No matter how you look at it, it's just overkill."

"To those of us who have experienced having to fight with our lives on the line, there is no such thing as overkill." Reborn said as he looked up at the sky. "You should be glad that someone like him takes your safety so seriously."

"I think our safety is the only thing that is going to be taken seriously while we are wearing these things." Taiga huffed, getting a giggle out of Natsumi.

After reaching Natsumi house, Natsumi just used her own house key, rather than ringing the doorbell, in order to enter. "Mama, you still here?" She called out.

"Yes, be right there!" Came the reply, before Nana came around the corner from the kitchen, holding a tray full of cookies for the party. She was dressed in her normal everyday clothes, with just a Santa's cap on her head from last Christmas as her costume.

That was fine. You didn't need to have an elaborate costume for the party anyways.

"It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Sawada." Taiga said politely.

"Ciaossu, Maman." "Good morning, Maman." Reborn and Bianchi greeted the woman.

"Good morning everyone." Nana responded cheerfully. "Thank you for taking care of my little girl. I hope that the away from home program is going well."

"It's going very well." Reborn replied in his normal chipper manner.

For reasons that were completely lost on Natsumi, Reborn had suggested that Natsumi spend a few days away from home every week, staying with Taiga and Bianchi at the former's condo. The reason Reborn gave was that being able to take care of one's self helped to build confidence and improve an individual's feeling of self-worth. While it had been logical, Natsumi was almost sure that wasn't the real reason.

Not that she minded. Spending half her days off at Taiga's place was nice. Taiga and Bianchi were like the older sisters she never had, with Taiga being the fun loving one that is always suggesting some kind of activity, while Bianchi usually just floated around, helping in small ways whenever they caused a mess. It was almost a drag, every time she had to return home to her mother, where she was no longer able to freely talk about things or express herself.

She felt a little guilty about it, since she was leaving her mother home alone most of the time. Reborn seemed to notice this as he got Nana a part-time job at one of the local stores, stocking shelves.

It wasn't a glamorous job, but being a thirty-year-old high school dropout with no job experience, who can't drive and was a single mother, Nana wasn't exactly ready for a competitive job field. Even your average high schooler was more appealing than her for a part-time job position. Honestly, if it wasn't for Reborn's unnatural powers of persuasion, it was unlikely that Nana would have been able to find a job close enough to home at all.

"Well, even if nothing else comes out of it, at least Natsumi is finally spending time with other girls. I was really worried there when she went and joined a Kendo club of all things." Nana said, smiling at Taiga. "Thank you for putting up with my No-Good daughter."

"Ex...Excuse me!?" Taiga said, going from shocked to indignant. She was too surprised to be properly angry at first, though Natsumi could feel the start of a tiger's roar coming on as the girl's rain flames reflexively started to build.

"Maman, people are already showing up to the party." Reborn said, pointing to the house next door. At some point during the last two minutes, Reborn's outfit had changed to that of a graduation ceremony outfit. "It would look bad if we were one of the last to get there."

"Right you are. Let's go." Nana chuckled, walking past the group which trailed slightly behind her.

"I can't believe her." Taiga said, still steaming as she half glared at Nana's back.

"Sorry. My mom wasn't too happy about me practicing Kendo." Natsumi said quietly.

"That isn't what I'm mad about." Taiga said, much to Natsumi's surprise. "Alright, so I'm a little mad about that, but I just can't believe she would insult you right in front of us like that. She's your mother."

"Insult me?" Natsumi said before realizing what Taiga meant.

'...my No-Good daughter.'

Honestly, she had been called No-Good so many times in the past, that sometimes she didn't even notice it. Almost as if it was really part of her name. The reminder of how her own mother saw her was a little disheartening for Natsumi, who shrunk down a little. "Sorry." She mumbled again.

"D...Hey, I'm not mad. Really, I'm not." Taiga said, snapping out of her frustration after seeing Natsumi getting so depressed.

"I'm sure Nana will change her tone soon." Reborn said, glancing over at Natsumi. "But in order for that to happen, you are going to have to earn it. Work hard and improve, and I'm sure she will never call you No-Good again."

"...What if I can't? What if I just remain a disappointment to her?" Natsumi asked.

"You won't. I won't let you." Reborn said with a grin.

"Reborn…" Natsumi said, having one of those moments when she actually felt thankful for Reborn. "So how long do I have to wait before you stop calling me 'No-Good'?"

"Never going to happen." Reborn said cheekily, getting a depressed laugh out of Natsumi before the baby hitman continued. "I will always call you 'No-Good' Natsumi. It will help to serve as a reminder to you, so that you never forget where you came from and how much you have achieved."

Natsumi didn't know what to say. She just stared at Reborn in mute shock all the way over to the Emiya house.

"Well, it is about time you showed up." Irisviel said cheerfully as their party arrived. Natsumi and Taiga stared at Irisviel with wide eyes as she posed slightly before them. The white haired beauty was dressed like a Greek Goddess in a simple yet elegant white dress and a crown of flowers in her hair. Her pale skin and snowy hair made her almost look like one of those marble statues had somehow come to life.

"Wow, you look amazing!" Taiga said, getting a giggle out of the woman.

"Don't just stand around, the party was set up in the back. There should be room on the table to put your things down." Iris told them before looking to greet the next group, the family of one of Illya's friends from school.

Natsumi gave a little internal sigh as she saw the look on the father's face as they were greeted by a goddess, only for the man to pale as Kiritsugu, dressed as the grim reaper, put his eyes on him.

A large buffet table was set up in the backyard, along with dozens of party games ranging from bobbing for apples to a variety of puzzle games. The kinds of things one would often see at a child's birthday party. Though it was unlikely that many children had a live magic show being performed by an actual wizard.

Shirou was dressed as a wizard in a dark red robe with a hooded mantle, and holding a twisted wooden walking stick as he started to perform a trick with a long segment of colorful rope that he pulled out of his sleeve. Natsumi was pretty sure it was actual magic and not just an illusion that made the knot he tied in it disappear, but she couldn't be sure.

Illya was popular at her school, so when she invited people over, they came. What must have been her entire class was there, as well as some others, all dressed in costumes. Some of the costumes were simple, while others were extremely complex, leading Natsumi to wonder just how much effort the children had put into them, and who they were trying to impress.

Though one costume stood out above all the others, as Haru had shown up, just like she said she would, dressed as an extremely detailed classic river boat. The costume was so bizarre and out there that it even outstripped the most ridiculous costumes that Natsumi had ever seen Reborn wear.

Haru was over with many of the other children watching Shirou's magic show, her expression going back and forth between childish wonder and equally childish suspicion.

"She really went all out, huh?" Taiga chuckled weakly as she noticed the preppy school girl. The tone of 'this is my life' mirroring Natsumi's own thoughts.

"She certainly is unique." Natsumi tactfully agreed before the two gave tired sighs. "I don't get why she is so weird about Shirou though."

"It is because they are opposing forces." Reborn said, surprising the two. "Haru's most dominant flame is the Lightning attribute, which is best acquainted to childish purity or a maiden's love, while Shirou is of the Storm attribute which is ruled by blind ambition. The two actually compliment each other very well, they just always start out rocky, as it is the most selfless force against the most selfish one."

"How is Shirou selfish? Almost everything he does is to help others and he never asks for anything in return." Natsumi said, almost angry at Reborn for the uncalled for accusations against Shirou.

"That is where you are wrong, my student, for the desire to help people can be the most selfish desire of all." Reborn said as he stroked his fake beard… when had he changed his costume to be an ancient karate master?

Natsumi didn't understand what Reborn was saying. How could helping people be selfish?

"YO!" Both Natsumi and Taiga jumped as they were both pulled into a headlock by someone who came up on them from behind. "It's EXTREMELY good to see you two here!" Ryohei shouted cheerfully to the pair.

He was dressed up as a Shinto priest for the party, though his entire head and shoulders were soaking wet, likely as a result of him being too enthusiastic when bobbing for apples and shoving his entire head into the tub of water.

"Let go of them you baboon, you're getting them all wet!" Hana shouted at Ryohei as she grabbed him by the collar and gave a small tug. It wasn't enough physical force to force him to let go, but Ryohei released his grip anyways. "Honestly Ryohei, you need to start acting at least your own age. You're probably one of the biggest kids here."

Natsumi laughed weakly, not wanting to call attention to the fact that neither her nor Taiga's clothes got wet, as they both repelled water.

"It's good to see you, Hana. Your outfit suits you." Taiga said. Hana was dressed as a librarian, with her long dark hair tied up in a tight bun and a pair of wire framed glasses.

"I'll have you know that my dad selected it. It's his bad joke." Hana grumbled in embarrassment. Though even so, she still seemed to unconsciously straighten the fake glasses as she said it.

"But it really does look good on you." Natsumi agreed with Taiga.

"I've been telling her that all morning, but she just doesn't listen." Kyoko giggled as she walked up behind Hana and her brother.

"K...Kyoko." Natsumi stammered, flushing a little as she saw her friend walking towards them in her costume. Kyoko was dressed as a Shinto shrine maiden and looked almost holy herself with her sunshine smile. "Your outfit looks really cute."

"Thanks. I'm glad that you think it suits me." Kyoko giggled, holding her arms up a bit and giving a cute pose. Natsumi couldn't say anything as her heart rate increased a little. "I like your magical girl costume too. Though I guess it is more than an ordinary costume."

"Y...yeah. I guess they are." Natsumi said weakly, getting another giggle out of Kyoko before she grabbed onto Natsumi's arm and started to pull her away.

"Come on, let's get some snacks before all the best kinds are taken." Kyoko said, not noticing Natsumi's flushed expression as she dragged her towards the tables.

Bianchi and Reborn watched the kids go with slightly raised eyebrows. "Reborn, is Natsumi…?"

"Yeah. Seems like it." Reborn replied before Bianchi could even finish the sentence. "With her Sky Flames developing so rapidly, it was only natural that something like this would happen."

The Svadhisthana Chakra, which governed the Sky Flames, was connected to one's self-esteem, empathy, and sexuality. With that fact, along with her starting to go through puberty, Reborn had expected that Natsumi would suddenly discover her personal taste for what kind of boys she liked. So her developing a sexual attraction towards girls was… not entirely unexpected. It wasn't uncommon for Skies to have sexual preferences outside of the norm.

While Irisviel was loyal to her husband, her attraction toward other women was a known factor, and Nono was also gay. Natsumi viewed Shirou and Ryohei more as older brother figures than anything else and she had a deep seeded suspicion of any man who didn't fall into the 'older brother' category. Kyoko was the first person to be nice to Natsumi outside of her family, before Reborn had shown up, making it easy to understand why the girl might develop feelings for her.

Reborn didn't particularly mind it though. He had nothing against homosexuals. Natsumi could have whatever kind of relationships she wanted, so long as she eventually did her duty and produced an heir. There were plenty of modern and magical methods for having a baby, even without her ever having to get in bed with a man. Even Timoteo, whose fear of his own mother had turned him off of women all together, eventually produced a child of his own, even if he never married.

"Love is love. I hope everything turns out well for them." Bianchi said with a thoughtful smile.

"We'll leave them be for now, but if Natsumi doesn't start being more forward, we might have to give her a good shove in the right direction." Reborn said with a cheeky smile. Messing with people's love lives was a horrible thing to do, but oh how Reborn loved to do it.

Though Reborn's smile faded somewhat as he saw Haru still stalking Shirou with a look of complete distrust as the wizard brought his little magic show to an end to go and greet his friends and act as an escort for his little sister.

While Haru's behavior towards Shirou wasn't unexpected, or even particularly annoying by the standards of Lightning Flame users, it was unhelpful.

Haru was one of the few Lightning Flame users around who was both around Natsumi's age, talented, and not a guy. With Gokudera's bond status not progressing, Reborn had hoped that Haru might be able to fill in the gap.

Sella was another good option for the position of Lightning Guardian, just as Leysrett could have filled in for Cloud, but Reborn didn't want to surround Natsumi with only people from the Emiya Clan, and while the two did possess strong flames due to the process that created them, they didn't embody the ideals of the Guardian's position.

Sella might have had pure hearted love for her family, but she wasn't the lightning rod which would draw attention away from them, and while Leysritt couldn't tell the difference between reality and a television drama, she was anything but aloof when it came to Natsumi and her friends.

Both Haru and Gokudera had the makings of a Lightning Guardian. That is to say, they were loud and childish, drew a lot of attention towards themselves, and got on some people's nerves.

Natsumi hadn't had a bad reaction towards the odd girl, which had left Reborn hopeful, however, her loyalties remained with her long standing family. If Haru didn't get over her issues with Shirou soon, it might cause complications in the future.

...If neither Gokudera or Haru became eligible for becoming a Lightning Guardian, Reborn would have to fall back on the plan of using Lambo, something he discarded when Gokudera had been pigeonholed into being a candidate for the Lightning or Cloud positions, as Storm, Rain, and Sun were all taken.

God, he didn't want to call on Lambo. While the five year old boy might have been the perfect embodiment of what it meant to be a Lightning Guardian, he was too perfect of it. Whenever he was around, Reborn had to resist the urge to gut the stupid kid and repurpose him as a seat cushion. There was chaos, and then there was just being annoying.

"Bianchi, would you mind taking care of something for me?" Reborn asked the woman, who immediately brightened up.

"Of course. I would do anything for you, my love."

* * *

Stealth wasn't exactly possible for a girl wearing a costume that was five feet wide, but that didn't stop Haru from following Shirou around, waiting for him to drop his act and show his true colors. After that she would… uh...

Haru wasn't sure what to do. She knew that she wanted to protect the children from Shirou's corruption, but she didn't know how.

The entire party, and even the days before since she had met him, Haru hadn't actually SEEN Shirou do anything wrong. She had never managed to catch him in the act. In fact, he had always seemed to be on his best behavior towards everyone.

Everyone except for Reborn and Haru herself.

However, just one look into Shirou's eyes was enough to expose him for what he was. Only a delinquent could possibly look at someone with such a look of disregard. When Haru looked in Shirou's eyes, she could tell that he didn't see her as being worth anything at all. It was like he barely even registered that she was there.

It was that dismissive attitude of his that really grinded her gears. She couldn't understand how someone as innocent and pure as Illya could look up to someone like him, even if he was her brother.

Haru had to protect the girl's innocence, no matter what.

However, her mission to protect Illya fell short as someone grabbed her and started to drag her away. "Huh, wha!?" Haru said, her arms flailing at her sides before she looked up to see Bianchi holding her by the head hole of her costume.

Haru had liked Bianchi, and immediately trusted her. After all, Bianchi was the only person who Reborn would allow to hold him, so she must be a good person.

"Bianchi-san, what are you doing, I need to…" Haru started but Bianchi cut her off.

"The two of us need to have a talk." Bianchi said glancing back at Haru. "There are some things you need to know about Reborn."

"...Huh?"

* * *

**For those of you wondering what the difference between the lightning and sky personality traits thing is, it is kind of confusing. Both deal with love and empathy, just a different kind of love and empathy.**

**Sky deals with love between two people who understand both each other and themselves. So it is like the love between people in a meaningful relationship. It is the more needy and jealous kind of love. You love them because you want to be loved back.**

**Where as Lightning would be love or empathy inside of a vacuum. You don't actually understand the other person, nor do you get anything out of expressing love or empathy towards them, but you do it anyways because it feels right to do so. So it is more like a crush, or the unconditional love of a child. Something more innocent, but I would argue that it is less meaningful. **

**It is like the difference between having a neighbor there for you when your mother dies in a car accident, or having your brother there with you. No matter how good the neighbors intentions, they are still on the outside looking in, not feeling the hurt alongside you.**


End file.
